


Those Left Behind

by ShadowsintheClouds



Series: Chances [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, DO NOT COPY, Fluff and Angst, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Irondad, M/M, Misunderstood Tony Stark, Mpreg, Omega Peter Parker, Omega Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Protective Tony Stark, Steve critical, Steve is a bit of an ass, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark-centric, Tony has a hard time, not wanda maximoff friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:02:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 39,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27922717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowsintheClouds/pseuds/ShadowsintheClouds
Summary: After Tony's heat is over, he finds himself mated and all alone. James was gone and Tony was left behind, just as he always was. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that Tony was also pregnant with his missing mate's child. So, scared and confused, Tony is thrust into parenthood while also trying to manage a company and his becoming a superhero.This is a prequel to my fic Second times the Charm. Read that one first.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark (mentioned), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Chances [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943560
Comments: 56
Kudos: 179





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, what’s this? Is this a prequel? My first ever prequel? I think it is. If you’re new here I’m hoping you’ve read Second Times the Charm. If not, go and read that first. Or don’t. It’s whatever. I hope y’all are ready to ride the angst train. It’ll be wild. So, strap in and prepare for words to happen. Updates will be a bit sporadic because of school but I’ve tried my best to pre-write as many chapters as possible before this goes out. I’ll see y’all at the end.

_November 2000_

Tony woke up alone. He hated waking up alone. He hated it, even more, when he woke up alone after a heat. Sure, he’d never spent his heat with anyone but if his memory served him right he’d just spent his heat with his true mate. James! That was his name. James. Tony didn’t remember much of what he looked like because of his heat but he remembered steel blue eyes, safe arms, and the scent of ice and gunmetal.

And that was why Tony was so confused when he woke up. His mate wasn’t there. Tony slowly sat up and looked around. No sign of his mate anywhere. He hears the sound of metal rusting and he looked down at his neck. There lay a simple silver chain that rested down onto Tony’s chest and over his mating mark. Oh Shit! He had a mating mark! 

Tony wanted to panic at the realization that he was mated but he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset. He had vague memories of James being sweet and loving during his heat. They were true mates. He knew he’d be alright.

Although the pink sticky note sitting on the bedside table with the words “I’ll return to you” written in blocky lettering were a bit concerning.

By the time Tony had showered, packed up, and checked out, he knew that his Alpha wasn’t going to come back. It hurt. It absolutely hurt. He’d been abandoned by so many people in his life. But even through all of the hurt Tony was feeling as he hopped in the waiting car and rode to the airport, he also felt confusion and worry. The note looked rushed and shaky. Maybe his mate was in danger.

But unfortunately, Tony would never know the truth. Not for a long time at least.

Tony was silent for most of the plane ride back. Obi had already flown back out to Malibu while Tony was in heat so he didn’t have to deal with him. It was just him and Happy who was more than happy to just sit in silence with Tony. They understood each other like that.

Tony tried his best to keep his emotions and thoughts in check once he finally arrived home. Pepper was impressed that Tony actually managed to get a lot of work done. She thought that he was finally trying to get things in order for once. But no, Tony was working so hard and staying organized in an attempt to get the encounter with his true mate out of his mind. He wished that they hadn’t met during Tony’s heat. The haze of hormones messed up Tony’s memory. If he had more information he would have asked JARVIS to help him. But alas, he had barely anything to go off of.

It hurt and Tony hated it.

A few weeks later, Tony started getting sick. He started getting sick and he knew why almost immediately. There were no used condoms in the room after James had left so that either meant that they didn’t use any, or that James cleaned up.

Tony was betting on the former.

Rhodey was visiting at the time when Tony found out. He was on leave for a few weeks from the military and was spending a week with Tony before they both went out to visit his mom. She was a kind old Omega who took Tony under her wing when he was a teenager. She’d practically adopted him.

But either way, Rhodey was there and Tony had to explain to him what happened. Tony was a bit of an emotional mess when the tests came back positive. Howard had tried to beat the emotions out of Tony as a kid. He didn’t want some Omega sissy as a son. So, Tony got really good at hiding what he was feeling.

But in this moment all he felt was sadness and panic. He was pregnant and his mate wasn’t there. He was alone. Well, not completely alone but you get the point. All the suppressed emotions and new hormones were a bit of a dangerous cocktail for Tony to be dealing with. He ended up sobbing uncontrollably in the bathroom floor after throwing up. Rhodey just held him and let Tony cry it all out. He was furious at this James fellow for leaving Tony and getting him pregnant, but he kept his won emotions under control. Tony needed him.

“Why doesn’t he want me? What did I do Rhodey? Why does nobody ever want me?” sobbed Tony as he clung to Rhodey as if his life depended on hit.

“I don’t know Tones. I don’t know why he left. But I know it wasn’t you’re fault. It’s never your fault.”

Despite Rhodey’s words, Tony still felt lost and at fault.

They told Mamma Rhodes when they went to visit her a few days later. She coddled Tony the entire week they were there. She made sure he ate and slept and put him on the right path to be taking care of his pup. Tony knew that if he ever had any questions he could go to her. 

A few weeks later, after a doctor's appointment and some tests to make sure Tony and the pup were alright, Tony told Happy and Pepper. Happy very quickly began ramping up his security measures to keep Tony and his pup safe while Pepper stepped in to keep the amount of work he had to get done low. But there wasn’t too much she could do.

So Tony had to tell Obadiah Stane.

That was something Tony had been dreading. Despite the fact that Stane was practically family, something about him had always seemed off to Tony. He was a beta who was super aggressive and touchy. Tony kind of hated how touchy he was.

“Get rid of it.” Snarled Stane once Tony had told him.

Tony stood there absolutely shocked. Get rid of his pup! Never! Even though Tony was scared to go through this alone he would never consider getting rid of his pup. He didn’t fault people who did. He was absolutely pro-choice, but Tony couldn’t fathom doing that himself. 

“No! This is my pup! I’m keeping them!” shouted back Tony as he took a few steps back and away from Stane. His instincts were always telling Tony not to trust Stane and for the first time ever, he listened to them.

“But Tony, think about the company. We don’t need another scandal with you at the center of it all. And how will you even manage to balance a pup and the company when you can’t even manage yourself?”

Tony just shook his head and glared at Stane. 

“I’ll make it work. I don’t care about any scandal. This is my pup. I’m not going to let anybody touch them.”

And with that Tony left Stane’s office, oblivious to the planning Stane was doing to gain control of the company while taking down Tony and his pup all in one go. It would be years before the plan was realized, but it was brutal none the less.

Tony did a piss poor job of concealing his pregnancy as it continued on. He was caught multiple times coming out of the doctor's office after getting scans done and speculation ran wild. There were many pictures going around the gossip rags highlighting Tony’s bump and the lack of Alpha hanging around him.

Eventually Tony had to do an interview to let the world know that he was pregnant. He was careful to steer any questioning away from his distinct lack of Alpha even though he had a visible mating bite. He didn’t like to think about how James wasn’t there with him. It hurt too much. 

Throughout Tony’s pregnancy, he was lucky to have the support of his friends and Mama Rhodes. It made things a hell of a lot easier. Well, Tony’s pregnancy was pretty easy overall. He was hardly sick. He and the pup were healthy. He didn’t swell too much in odd places. Sometimes the entire thing felt like a dream.

But the spell was always broken when Stane reminded Tony of his reputation or of what the media was saying. Sometimes Tony really hated Stane. He’d seen Tony grow up. He’d been there for him after Howard and his Mamma had died. He was family. But even so, he was oddly touchy with Tony even though he knew that Tony wasn’t a fan of it and he seemed to want to push Tony into certain things.

Tony would have to watch the Beta when he was around his pup. Just in case.

When Tony was around 30 weeks pregnant he finally got to find out the gender of his pup. His pup had been extremely uncooperative in all the past scans. They would kick up a storm and roll around and just generally drive the doctor crazy. Tony thought it was a bit funny. For as much as Tony was a bit of a reluctant exhibitionist in his youth, his pup seemed to be shy. He already loved them so much. 

“Congratulations Mr. Stark. It’s a boy.”

Tony managed to keep his tears of joy under control until after Happy had dropped him off at home. He didn’t need the paparazzi catching him crying outside of the clinic. He didn’t need any speculation about his pup.

Tony took it upon himself to design and decorate his son’s room. Sure he could have paid to have it professionally done, but this was his son. He needed to do this on his own. Well… not completely on his own. Happy and Pepper helped because Rhodey was back on base. He had them help with painting and building things since he could do those on his own.

The room was painted a mixture of soft blues and reds with just a hint of gold because Tony was a bit extra. There was a crib near the window so the pup could see the ocean. There was a changing table and a huge array of new clothes. There was a bookshelf with all the classics as well as some science-themed books. In the far corner was a little toy chest that held building blocks, robots, and stuffed animals for when his son was older. It was everything Tony could have ever wanted for his pup. It was everything he had ever wanted when he was a kid. Howard hadn’t allowed him toys or fun books after it was discovered that Tony was a genius.

So, with the room all made up, the last thing that Tony needed to do was start thinking of a name for his pup. Tony knew he wanted his son’s middle name to be James. He may have a lot of mixed emotions when it came to his absent mate but his name and that chain that Tony hardly ever took off were all he had of him. He wanted his son to have something of his father.

As for a first name, well… Tony quite liked the name Peter. He wasn’t sure why. He just really liked it. It fit well. Peter James Stark. Tony’s son. His pride and joy. He already loved him with all his heart even though he wasn’t here yet.

What Tony didn’t know was that getting Peter into the world was going to be a horrible ordeal.


	2. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m assuming y’all have read Second Times the Charm because this chapter is directly referenced in that fic. Based on what happened last chapter, y’all can probably guess what’s about to happen. It’s about to get graphic so just be prepared. Although if you’ve read any of my other works you already have an idea of where this is going. Well, be prepared. I’ll see you at the end.

Tony went into labour on August 10th, 2001, although he, unfortunately, didn’t realize it until it was too late.

The day had started out pretty normal. Tony waddled out of bed, made some breakfast because he and Peter were hungry, and made his way down to his lab. Sure he’d been having cramps on and off for the past few days but he was fine. They were probably just those false contractions that help prepare you for giving birth. He wasn’t worried.

After eating some cereal, Tony carefully took the stairs down to his lab. JARVIS was due for a tune-up and with the pup about to arrive he needed his AI in perfect shape. So, once he got comfortable, he got to work turning JARVIS’s functions off so that he could work. He didn’t turn the AI off fully, but he had no capabilities other than being able to talk to Tony. No diagnostics, no calls, nothing.

This would later turn out to be a huge problem.

A few hours into his work Tony noticed that the pain he was feeling was starting to get worse. Like, really worse. Now Tony normally had a pretty damn high pain tolerance so he was concerned. Sure, he’d been in pain on and off for a few days at this point, but it was never this bad. And it was so sudden too. He hadn’t been expecting it. Well, he had been but still. Tony had no clue how long he’d been feeling this bad. He’d been so engrossed in his work that he’d just sort of tuned it out. For Tony work was a great distraction for pain.

But now that was a problem.

Tony very quickly tuned into the fact that he was in labour and needed to get help. Now, if JARVIS had been fully functional this wouldn’t have been a problem. JARVIS could have called for help. But no… Tony just had to go and run maintenance on him. So, Tony had no choice but to make his way upstairs to his room to grab his phone because he’d been stupid and left it there. So, Tony got up and made to make his way out of his lab.

That wasn’t what happened.

The second Tony stood up he felt a trickle and then a gush of liquid and the pain intensified. Tony could hardly move his legs as he lowered himself to the floor. He knew that there was no way he was going to be able to make it up multiple flights of stairs to get to his phone. And that was when he started to panic. He was about t give birth all by himself with only JARVIS and the bots for support. Unless somebody showed up, he was all on his own. It was absolutely terrifying.

Tony cried as he dragged himself over to the well-worn couch that sat near the back of the lab. He didn’t want his pup to be born on the floor. It took way too much effort to get himself up onto the couch and his pants off. Of all the days to not wear sweatpants, Tony chose the wrong day.

Tony tried to pay attention to what JARVIS was saying and what DUM-E, U- and Butterfingers were doing to help. He noticed the water and a few clean towels that he’d had stored in the lab's bathroom sitting close by, but it was hard to pay attention. He was shaking in pain and fear. He was crying out with each contraction as they got closer and closer together. There were blood and fluids everywhere, and Tony was scared. He never thought he’d have to go through this alone. In an ideal world, he would have had his mate with him but that just wasn’t possible. Tony’s plan had been to give birth in a hospital with Rhodey at his side. He was due to be back home the next day.

This? This was not the plan! 

Tony didn’t know how long he pushed and laboured for. All he knew was that by the time Peter came screaming into the world, the sun was setting. Tony held his pup in shaking hands has he drew him in close to his chest. They were both crying but Tony more so than Peter. He was in so much pain and there was blood everywhere. He had no energy left and he felt horrible. It was a fucking miracle that nothing had gone horrendously wrong during the birth. A fucking miracle.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Peter. I’m so fucking sorry.” Sobbed Tony as he held his son to his chest and scented him. He was shaking and sobbing and scared.

Tony felt so terrible as he held his pup in his arms. He’d already failed him and he wasn’t even a few minutes old. He should have tried harder to get help. Tony’s mind was going crazy as he sat there in his own blood and fluids with the crying pup in his arms. Every last insecurity he had come bubbling to the surface. Every last horrid thing that Howard had ever said and home to him was at the forefront of his mind as his hormones went crazy. Every bad scenario that could happen began playing on repeat. Would Peter be taken away from him because he couldn’t get help in time? Tony sobbed and held Peter closer as he thought of that. He could lose Peter. He just couldn’t.

His sweet Peter was already perfect in every way. His tiny little pup who smelt like him with a hint of snow. His Omega pup who meant the world to him. He couldn’t lose him.

20 minutes after Tony had given birth and had passed the afterbirth, he heard footsteps walk down towards the lab and he started sobbing and shaking even harder.

“Tony? Is that you? Are you alright?” came Pepper’s voice from halfway down the stairs.

Tony didn’t answer but his sobs could be heard well enough that Pepper went running to find him. She was absolutely stunned when she saw the blood-covered floor and couch with Tony sobbing and holding an impossibly tiny pup to his chest.

Pepper, even though she herself was scared, ran to Tony's side, and checked him over. He was a shivering mess and she was quick to bundle him and the pup in the towels that were set off to the side by U. Tony was mostly unresponsive to her and her ministrations so she did what she could. As soon as she knew that Tony was warming up she called for an ambulance. 

Because Tony’s house was in a more remote location, the ambulance took a while to get there. Pepper tried her best to help Tony calm down but to no avail. He was too worked up from having to deliver his pup all by himself. He was exhausted and hurting and terrified that his pup was hurt and was going to be taken away from him. By the time help arrived Tony was so high-strung that he wouldn’t let anybody get near Peter. He kept muttering about not having his pup taken away.

Luckily, nobody touched Peter until they got to the hospital. 

Tony was lucky that the doctors and nurses didn’t take his pup out of the room and away from him. It was probably because his scent was going crazy with worry over his pup. That and the fact that Tony was very quickly drugged to the gills and looked over by the doctors to make sure he wasn’t about to bleed out. He wasn’t. Both he and Peter were alright. They were lucky.

After what felt like forever, Tony was finally left alone with Peter safely in his arms by the doctors and nurses and allowed visitors. Pepper and Happy were there first. Of course, they were. Obi was on a trip and Rhodey was still flying back from his last deployment. They both fussed over him and Peter. Tony was relatively silent the whole time, only answering questions when prompted. His friends worried about him.

Tony wasn’t sure when he fell asleep but when he woke up an hour later Peter had been placed in a bassinet attached to his hospital bed and was crying. Despite the fact that Tony was scared out of his mind over hurting his precious pup, he quickly picked up his son and began to feed him. He could never let his pup go hungry.

Time seemed to pass differently in that little hospital room. Time was dictated by Peter’s cries and doctors coming in and out to run appointments. Tony didn’t care at all about himself when it came to the appointments. He only cared about Peter and his health. He’d already failed his pup. He couldn’t do it again.

Obi came to visit the second day that Tony was in the hospital. He’d flown in from his business meeting in New York once he’d heard that Tony was in the hospital and had had his pup. When he walked in Tony was laying on his side and facing away from him. Peter was snoozing right beside him and Tony was brushing his fingers gently over his son’s head. He was aware that Stane had walked in but he didn’t really care. Peter was all he could focus on.

“So, I heard that you gave birth in your lab.” Spoke Stane and Tony turned his head a bit to look at the man for a second before he looked back at his pup.

“I did.” Sighed Tony. He didn’t like thinking about what had happened. It made him feel even worse than he already felt.

“I told you that having a pup would bring nothing but trouble.” Stane and something inside of Tony snapped. The man didn’t ask how he was doing. He didn’t ask about his precious Peter. He only had words of criticism and disdain for his pup. Now despite how absolutely horrible Tony was feeling He still had some fight in him. His protective instincts were going haywire and he wouldn’t stand for anyone saying things about his pup. 

“Leave.” Growled Tony. It was low enough so as to not wake up Peter.

“What?”

“Leave.”

Tony very pointedly made sure his back was turned to his father figure. He didn’t want to deal with this. There were enough horrible emotions simmering in his bones. He didn’t need any more added in. Peter was here and Stane would just have to deal with it.

Tony and Peter got to go home when Peter was six days old. They were kept in the hospital for observation for a long time because of the situation. Luckily both Tony and Peter were healthy all things considered.

Tony was happy that Happy and Pepper were the ones to pick him up. The media had gotten word that He’d had his pup and were scrambling around for pictures. Happy and Pepper helped sneak him and Peter out and to the waiting car so that they could finally go home. Tony didn’t want Peter in the media until he was old enough to make the decision for himself. He’s grown up with cameras in his face since he was born. He was horrible. He hated it. People always thought that Tony liked all the attention. He didn’t. Maybe for a little bit when he was a teenager and attention-starved, but not anymore. It was exhausting and it made so many people hate him when the tabloids painted him in a horrible light and called him and whore and a slut.

He never wanted Peter to have to deal with that.

Tony had some mixed emotions about being back home. JARVIS still wasn’t up and running correctly so most of the house was eerily silent. Pepper and Happy helped Tony get settled in his room. They dragged in a basinet for Peter but Tony was hesitant to put him down. He was scared to let Peter out of his sight. He was still scared that he’d be taken away from him or that something bad would happen.

So, Peter stayed with Tony. Even after Happy and Pepper left for the day, Peter still stayed firmly with Tony.

Rhodey finally arrived home the next day and made it quickly over to Tony’s to visit and bring home pictures for Mama Rhodes. But first and foremost, he wanted to check in on Tony. Pepper had told him what had happened and he’d been worried sick.

“Hey, Tones.” Smiled Rhodey once he’d made it up the stairs to Tony’s room. The man in question was sitting on the bed feeding Peter.

“Hey, Rhodey.” Whispered Tony. His eyes were red as if he’d just been crying.

“You doing alright?” asked Rhodey as he sat down on the bed. Tony paused for a moment before talking. He trusted Rhodey. He could tell him the truth.

“No… No, I’m not. I feel like shit. And not the shit that everybody says you feel like after having a pup. I just… I just..” tears reformed in Tony’s eyes as he spoke. “I feel like I’ve already failed him. I failed him from the very start. I gave birth all alone. What if he’d gotten hurt? What if something went wrong? I just… I failed him.”

Tony was almost sobbing by the time he was done talking. He wanted to just devolve into tears but he didn’t. Peter was still feeding and he was more important than Tony’s own inevitable breakdown.

“Tony. You have not failed him. Peter is here. He’s healthy. You didn’t fail him. Sure you gave birth alone, but from the sound of things, your body didn’t give you much of a choice. I can already tell that you love that pup more than anything. You didn’t fail him. You’re not Howard. You’ll never fail him.”

Rhodey’s little speech only caused Tony to cry a little more. He wanted to feel bad at that moment but Rhodey always told Tony the truth. But that still didn’t stop the bad thought and feelings swirling around in his head.

“So, this is little Peter?” asked James changing the subject. Tony nodded and held his pup more securely in his arms. For being so small he sure ate a lot.

“Can I hold him?”

The question was innocent enough but Rhodey backed off the second he saw Tony’s eyes fill with panic at the thought of anybody who wasn’t him touching his pup. He wasn’t offended. Tony had just been through something traumatic. He understood.

Tony not letting anyone hold Peter became a very frequent occurrence. Nobody got to hold Peter. Nobody at all. Tony wouldn’t let anyone near his pup. Peter was always with him and it certainly wasn’t helping Tony’s mental state. He looked awful. He was sleep-deprived and shaky. Little things would send him crying. He was overprotective and jumpy. Tony fell behind greatly in his inventions in the months following Peter’s birth. By the time Peter was four months old not a single soul had held him other than Tony and a few doctors while they were still in the hospital for checkups. And even then Tony had a hand on his pup while the doctors did their job.

Tony’s mind was a complete mess. He just felt so useless half the time. Peter would cry and cry and cry and Tony would feel so powerless when no matter what he did he wouldn’t stop. Peter wasn’t sick or hurt or anything. He was just a whiny pup. But Tony still worried. And when Tony was worried he didn’t sleep. And when Tony didn’t sleep he got emotional. He cried more. Tony had never really cried before he got pregnant with Peter. Howard had beat the lesion of “Stark men are made of iron” into him as a child. Literally.

But Tony was really doing horribly. The months rolled on and Peter hit all his milestones with gusto. His pup was a tiny little overachiever and hit everything earlier than normal. Well, he was the son of Tony Stark after all. But still, Tony watched his pup learn and grow but still felt horrible. Still, nobody else had even toucher Peter. Stane was getting angry about the lack of new weapons produced. There was yelling and most days Tony didn’t even want to get out of bed. He only did it for Peter. Always for Peter. He did everything for Peter.

Rhodey was the one who dragged Tony to therapy. He’d know Tony since he was a scrappy young Omega, too young to be left alone at MIT surrounded by Alphas and Betas. Tony was his brother. He’d seen him through everything. Rhodey couldn’t stand the sight of Tony falling apart before his eyes.

Tony was reluctant to go to therapy. He was scared that he’d be judged. He was scared that all his secrets would be shared with the world. He was scared that he’d lose Peter. Rhodey had to practically drag him to his first appointment. He would have literally dragged him or carried him inside but Tony had Peter in his arms and wasn’t allowing anyone near his precious pup. 

But, despite everything, every hesitation and fear, Tony managed to talk a bit in his first session. He may be absolutely terrified but he wanted to be a good Mamma to Peter. His pup deserved the world. He wanted to give it to him. 

Tony wasn’t surprised when he was diagnosed with depression and anxiety after a few appointments. He’d been struggling with it on and off for years. Ever since he was just a kid himself. Howard had been a horrible Alpha and it certainly had its effects on Tony. That and the years of bullying at school and growing up an Omega in an Alpha’s world. 

He was put on some medication in the hopes that it would help. Peter was pushing 10 months old and moving away from breastfeeding and onto mashed foods so they weren’t worried about any transfer. 

It took over a month before Tony started to feel any better with his new regime of medication and therapy. By then Peter was 10 months old, teething, toddling, and getting ready to say his first word. That at least had Tony feeling something. He really hoped that Peter’s first word was Mamma.

As it turned out, Peter’s first word was Mamma. Tony had been playing blocks with him in the living room when it had happened. Peter toppled over the block tower and was laughing up a storm. Tony was smiling at his pup and Peter had just blurted it out.

“Mamma!”

Tony had cried after hearing Peter say his first word. But then again, he’d been crying a lot since he’d gotten pregnant and given birth. But these were happy tears. Peter was finally talking and Tony was overjoyed. Obviously, JARVIS saved the video to Peter’s memory file. 

Peter’s first birthday was the very first time Tony allowed anyone to hold his pup. Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, and his cousin Sharron Carter were there to celebrate. Sharron had gotten the week off from her job at SHIELD with the express mission of getting to meet Peter. She’s been deep undercover for the past year and was extremely excited to meet him. She’s only gotten to see the pictures Tony and their Aunt Peggy had sent her.

After a day filled with cake, presents, and giggles, Tony relented and allowed the people closest to him to finally hold Peter as they settled in to watch a movie. Tony was shaky and scared at the thought of someone else holding his pup, but he trusted the people who were as good to him as family.

Rhodey was first for obvious reasons. He held Peter so gently and smothered the little boy in affection. The same went for Sharron and Pepper. Happy was a little bit more apprehensive because he hadn’t been around many pups before. But he was still gentle with Peter and didn’t say anything when the pup pulled at his hair.

From then on, Tony slowly allowed more people near his pup. Not Stane though. His gut was telling him that something was up with that man. Tony had been learning to trust his instincts. If they said to keep Peter away from the man who didn’t want the pup around then he would. Tony knew something was up. It would just take years for Tony to figure out what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Peter is here and with him all sorts of drama. I hope y’all enjoyed the chapter. Drop a comment to let me know what you thought. I’ll see y’all soon. I hope your day is going well. -Shadows


	3. Growing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of time jumping in the chapter. I hope y’all are prepared for that. Tiny Peter is going to grow up in the blink of an eye. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I’ll see you at the end.

There were some days where Tony could hardly believe how fast Peter was growing. One moment he was a tiny pup who would fall asleep all milk drunk in Tony’s arms, and the next he was a toddler who was hell-bent on giving Tony grey hairs.

Peter liked to run around. He liked to make messes. He liked to try and copy Tony when he was doing paperwork or drawing up blueprints. He was a tiny bundle of giggles that made Tony’s days brighter.

Although looking at Peter, it made Tony miss James. Though Peter looked the spitting image of Tony, there were some things that must have come from James. For instance, Peter’s hair was straighter than Tony’s by quite a bit. He was also taller than Tony was at the same age, although that could also be because Peter was well looked after and loved. His nose was also a slightly different shape. Honestly, although Tony didn’t remember much, he missed his mate.

Those days were rough. Those were the days where Tony didn’t want to get out of bed. He did get up though. He always did. Peter was more important. He’d push through it. Although his therapist would argue that Tony needed to take time for himself. Tony did though. He was determined to not end up like Howard.

Part of Tony’s quest to not end up like his own abusive father was keeping Peter out of the eyes of the media. Although the world was buzzing for information and the Stark pup, Tony refused to give it to them. No pictures of Peter made it out into the world. No interviews were given about his pup. Tony didn’t want that. His entire life from the moment his own mother had announced she was pregnant, was plagued by the paparazzi. Tony’s entire life had been documented and scrutinized. Well, most of his life. Nobody ever did catch on to Howard Stark’s abuse. 

But that’s beside the point. Tony didn’t want Peter in the media so he kept him out. Simple as that. Pepper helped.

As Peter learned and grew, Tony very quickly noticed that his pup was once smart cookie. Once he started talking he picked up things very quickly. His fine motor skills were on par with Tony’s at the same age and he was already grasping basic math. Tony was extremely proud of his pup, but he also worked hard to let Peter explore what he wanted to. He wasn’t going to force his pup into anything. If Peter didn’t want to be an engineer or a businessman he didn’t have to. Peter could be whatever he wanted. Tony would make sure that happened.

It made Stane mad when he found out that Tony didn’t want to share his pup’s accomplishments with the world. Tony didn’t understand why his godfather didn’t like Peter. Peter was perfect. Who wouldn’t like him?

When Peter turned four they discovered that he needed glasses. It wasn’t that much of a surprise. Though Tony himself did not need glasses, his own mother had. So, Tony made sure that Peter got the glasses he needed. Peter picked out a pair of red and blue ones and everyone who knew the pup told him how handsome he looked in his new glasses. It certainly helped Peter remember to wear them.

So, things were relatively alright at the Stark house. Tony was feeling more like himself thanks to his therapist and friends, and Peter was thriving. But Tony should have known that the calm wouldn’t last. Peter was a few months out from turning five and Tony was now faced with trying to figure out his pup’s education situation. For Tony, it was a no brainer. He wanted Peter put in a private science school close to home so he would be home every night for dinner. He was already talking to different schools about a modified curriculum so that Peter could learn at his own pace but also learn to socialize with pups his own age. 

Stane had different ideas.

“I’m just saying that the pup would do better at a boarding school and to skip a few grades. You did that and turned out just fine.” Spoke Stane and Tony felt like punching the man.

“No Obi. I’m not sending Peter away. He needs to be with me. He needs to learn to socialize properly. I never had that so shut the fuck up with the whole “you turned out fine” bullshit. I’ve already enrolled him at a school close by and have an agreement with the principal on Pete being given harder work to do. You’re not Peter’s Mamma. I am. So the decision of his education rests with me.” Snapped Tony as he started down the Beta. He wasn’t scared of Stane’s posturing.

“That pup is making you soft Tony. You need to smarten up.” Threatened Stane but Tony continued to stare him down. Peter was his son. He was his world. He didn’t care if he was “going soft”. Peter had made him a better person. Who cares if the world thought was Tony disgraced because his Alpha wasn’t around. Who cares what the tabloids wrote. Peter had made him better and it was high time he dragged his company in the same direction.

Tony made sure everything was perfect for Peter’s first day of school. His tiny little Omega son was so excited to be able to go out and play with all the other kids. Tony made sure his pup had everything he needed. A new blue and red backpack was filled to the brim with new books, pencils, and crayons. Everything a pup needed to start off kindergarten on the right foot. Peter was pretty much bouncing with excitement as Tony lead his son to his classroom. Tony ignored the looks he got from other parents as he lead his pup down the halls. This was Peter’s day and his focus was on him.

“Alrighty, Pete. Remember to listen to your teacher and to make friends, ok pup?” spoke Tony as he straightened the little clip-on tie that Peter had to wear with his uniform. It was a soothing dark blue to match his little cardigan.

“Ok, Mamma. I’ll be good.” Smiled Peter and Tony had no doubt that he would.

Tony watched as his son entered his classroom and found a seat next to a little girl with bright red hair and the two started colouring together. Tony knew that Peter would be ok. He was a good pup. He’d be alright.

Tony was wrong. Peter was not alright. Kindergarten wasn’t so bad. Peter was a sweet pup who made friends easily. Kindergarten was no problem at all. No, the problems started a year later when Peter was six and entering first grade.

Between Peter wearing glasses, having all new classmates, and getting different assignments from the teacher, Peter did not have an easy time making friends. It made Tony worried. He didn’t like seeing his pup coming home in tears after being pushed on the playground or excluded from games. It had been the same for Tony growing up except Tony was also the smallest, youngest and only Omega in his grade because he was pushed ahead. Tony was sent away to a rich boarding school when he was six and placed almost at a middle school level. Because it was a private, rich boarding school it was full of the Alpha sons and daughters of rich assholes who ran in the same leagues as Howard. 

Tony had a lot of parent/teacher meetings at the school to sort out the bullying. Honestly, Tony was seriously considering just pulling Peter out of school and homeschooling him. But Tony knew that Peter had to at least learn to socialize with others. Tony hadn’t had that option growing up. Hell, he didn’t even make his first friends until he was 14 and shipped off to MIT. Rhodey was Tony’s oldest and bestest friend. Hell, they were more like brothers.

Tony hoped that someday Peter would find his own Rhodey. 

Despite all the talks, things didn’t really get much better for Peter even with Tony’s money and influence. So, Tony did what he could to make sure that Peter was at least safe and happy at home. They spent hours in the lab together. Hours creating and laughing. Peter loved working in the lab with his Mamma. They were working on building a robot that Peter had drawn all by himself with some new pencil crayons Pepper had gotten him.

Although their time together in the lab was short-lived.

Around mid-April, in 2008 Tony was called into his office while Peter was in school by Stane. Tony knew it wouldn’t be good. Stane and some of the older Alpha board members hadn’t been too happy with Tony’s attempts to steer the company away from weapons development. No doubt that this would be about that.

And it was. Whether Tony liked it or not, on the 2nd of May he was being shipped off to Afghanistan to give a weapons demonstration. Tony really didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to leave Peter. He really didn’t but he really had no choice. So, that afternoon Tony called Mamma Rhodes to see if she could watch him for the week he and Rhodey would be gone. Of course, she agreed as she was always looking for an excuse to babysit the pup.

Telling Peter was the hard part. He cried, of course he did. He didn’t want his Mamma going away without him. But he was excited about Mamma Rhodes coming to stay with him in Malibu while his Mamma was away. 

As the date of departure inched closer and closer, Tony began to worry. Something felt off about this demo. He’d never been called to do a demo before. Not even before Peter was born. Stane had also been acting strange lately. He was actually being somewhat nice to Peter and he’d been touching Tony more often. It made Tony feel very uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do. Maybe he should just tell Stane and the board to fuck off. Maybe he should just find a way to run away and leave all this behind.

But Tony didn’t.

He didn’t and he paid the price.

He should have listened to his instincts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think based on where we are in the timeline y’all can figure out what’s about to happen next. Things are about to get angsty. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I hope y’all enjoyed the chapter. Drop a comment if you like. I’ll see everyone soon. -Shadows


	4. Masks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there. A lot of going to happen this chapter. Like, two movies worth of A LOT. I hope you’re ready for this ride. Also, I totally made Stane even creepier than in canon. So, sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy. I’ll see you at the end. Also fair warning. This chapter talks about death, torture, suicide, and Stane is a total creep. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Mamma Rhodes arrived the day before Tony left for Afghanistan to look after Peter. She greeted Tony with a hug and a forehead kiss and presented Peter with a little present. It was a blue and red stuffed bunny. Although despite Nana Rhodes being there, Peter still wouldn’t leave Tony’s side. And, well… Tony didn’t want him to.

“Now remember to be good for Nana Rhodes, alright Pete?” spoke Tony the next morning. He was already running late when Peter began crying for him not to go. But what’s the point of a private jet if it takes off without you?

“Please, Mamma. Please don’t go!” cried Peter as he clung to Tony. Tony just hugged his son back and sighed.

“I know you don’t want me to go, Pete. I know. But I have to. And I won't even be gone long. It’s only for three days. That’s three days that you get to spend with your Nana. I know you love spending time with your Nana.”

“But what if something happens?” worried Peter.

“I’ll be fine Peter. I’ll be just fine.” Spoke Tony but he hardly believed his own words. His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. But Tony pushed them aside and hugged his son before leaving with Happy and heading to the airport to meet Rhodey. He has his suitcase in one hand and a tray of cookies that Mama Rhodes made to share with Rhodey on the flight.

Tony never should have left the house that morning.

Tony didn’t remember much about what had happened before the explosion. He remembered calling Stane to let him know how things had gone. He remembered joking with Rhodey about riding in the FUN-vee. He remembered guns and blood and pain, so much pain. He remembered a bomb with his name etched into the side. He remembered feeling his chest being torn open and hands holding him down. Tony remembered wanting to die to make the pain end.

Tony ended up being passed out from pain and shock for a week.

When Tony finally came to he was laying on a broken old cot with musty old blankets. There was a tube down his nose and he felt extremely disoriented. He pulled the tube from his nose and almost threw up as it came out. He knew he shouldn’t have done that but he wasn’t thinking straight. He also pulled the bandages from his chest in a fit of panic and almost passed out when he saw the large hunk of metal there attached to a dilapidated car battery. He would have passed out in shock if it wasn’t for the other man there with him.

Tony was only given a day in that cave with the other man, who turned out to also be a doctor who was captured before he was having demands shouted at him in languages that he didn’t speak. All he knew was that they had his weapons and he didn’t know where he got them. In that time, Tony couldn’t help but focus on three things. The first, he was in immense pain and he wanted it to stop. The second, he’d broken his promise to Peter and he wouldn’t be back home after three days. And the third, that Rhodey had probably died along with everyone else when the convoy had been attacked.

Tony had been silent the whole day as his mind wandered through every single worst-case scenario.

The next day Tony was being dragged around by terrorists and it felt like his heart was being pulled from his chest every time he moved. They wanted him to make weapons. Tony refused. He should have just agreed and done his own thing anyway. Anything would have been better than the waterboarding and electrocution he was made to endure for a week straight. He ended up passing out again for another five days after having been waterboarded for an hour straight with no breaks.

When Tony woke up he was tortured again and again. He was losing track of time and it hurt. The doctor, who Tony learned was named Yinson, helped him as much as he could. Tony was thankful. The man seemed familiar but he didn’t remember where he’d met him before. Must have been before Peter was conceived.

After weeks of torture, Tony finally caved and agreed to make the bomb they wanted. He didn’t make the bomb of course. He had other plans. But first of all, he needed to figure out the mess that was his chest. The battery was failing. He had at most a week left before the shrapnel in his chest pierced his heart and shredded him alive. Tony was determined to make it out of that cave alive. He didn’t want to leave Peter an orphan.

So, Tony built a miniature arc reactor. He had a big one powering his plant back home and it made sense to scale it down.

Nights were the only time in that cave where Tony and Yinson actually got a break from all the hard labour of trying to build things. Well, Tony assumed it was night time. He’d only gotten to go outside a few times since waking up from that first surgery. They would talk and eat what little food they were given. 

“So, do you have any family?” asked Yinson one night as they were huddled around their little fire for warmth. Who knew that the dessert got so fucking cold?

“I have a son, Peter. He’s my entire world.” Sighed Tony. He missed his pup so much.

“No mate? You have a bite.”

“He’s… he’s not in the picture.”

Tony was glad that Yinson didn’t push the subject.

Tony had dealt with a lot of pain in his life so he had a high pain tolerance. That was often a problem. Case in point, Peter’s birth. But it was also proving to be a problem there in that cave. He would often overwork himself because he was stressed and unsure of his limit because he wanted so desperately to survive.

Tony threw up a lot once he got the new mini reactor put in his chest. He was incredibly lethargic for a few days. Tony was lucky that his captors recognized that his being sick meant that it would take longer for them to get their weapon made so he got the week off to recover. Although maybe they were just hoping that Tony was about to go into heat. It had been a long time since any of them had taken an Omega in heat. Thankfully, luck was on Tony’s side and he never went into heat while he was captured. 

“What is that?” asked Yinson one afternoon while Tony was daring up a sketch on a few pieces of translucent paper.

“This is our ticket out of here.” Smiled Tony as he placed all the miss-matched papers together. The pieces came together to form what appeared to be a very well drawn mechanized suit with weapons galore. Tony was quite proud of his drawing. He took an art class at MIT to make all his scientific drawings look better when he had to do work by hand. That class had paid for its self over and over again.

“That doesn’t look like a missile.” Smiled Yinson and Tony smiled back. Soon they would be able to make their bid for freedom.

They both worked hard to make the suit. They both desperately wanted out of that hell home. Or so Tony through. When it came to the two actually making their great escape, Yinson was the one to sacrifice himself for Tony. Yinson left Tony in the suit to make sure that the way was clear. He died so that Tony could get out and back to his pup.

Tony would never forget the last words that Yinson said to him. Never. They would always stay with him. 

“Don’t waste your life Stark. Don’t waste it.”

Tony took those words to heart. He didn’t waste it.

The desert was blisteringly hot as Tony trudged through the impossibly large dunes of sand. He was starving, dehydrated, burned, and he was pretty sure he’d dislocated a shoulder in his fall. He just hoped that the explosion he’d caused had gotten the attention of the right people. Tony just wanted to go home. 

Rhodey was the one who found Tony wandering alone in the desert. His troop had been alerted to the explosion and had been dispatched. Rhodey had spotted Tony in the sand and had landed the chopper to go rescue his brother.

“Next time you ride with me.” Chided Rhodey and Tony just fell into his embrace.

The flight back to base was tense. People kept trying to question Tony or poke at his chest. Tony was having absolutely none of it. He would allow the doctors at the bases' medical unit to set his shoulder and clean his cuts and burns but he was not going to have anyone prodding around his chest. Tony didn’t know who he could trust other than a few people. The Ten Rings had his weapons. Somebody was doing something nefarious. So, nobody was getting near his chest. 

Tony only really let Rhodey near him to question him on what happened. He trusted his Rhodey-bear with everything. Although he didn’t dwell too much on everything in his explanation of what had happened after the convoy was attacked. Tony just wanted to go home. He needed to see his son. 

Tony collapsed to his knees when he got to hold his son again. The second they’d landed on US soil and exited the plane Tony saw Peter let go of Pepper’s hand and go running to his Mamma. The poor pup was crying and both of them refused to let go of the other.

“Mamma! Mamma, you’re home! You came back!. They said you wouldn’t but you promised you’d be back so I knew you’d come home.” Cried Peter and Tony held his pup closer despite his injuries.

“I’m so sorry Pete. I’m so sorry. I’m never going to leave you ever again. Never.”

It was Rhodey, Mama Rhodes, and Pepper that helped Tony and Peter got to the car that Happy had driven over. The entire time Tony was thanking Mama Rhodes and Pepper profusely for keeping Peter safe while he was in that cave. He would never be able to thank them enough for protecting his pup.

“Alright Tony, we need to get you to a hospital.” Spoke Pepper from her seat up near the front.

“No. No hospitals.” Argued Tony and everyone looked at him. Even Peter who was curled up on his lap.

“Tony you barely got medical treatment back at the base. You need to see a doctor.” Argued Rhodey and Tony shook his head.

“No. I only need three things. One, I’ve been in captivity for three months. I want an American cheeseburger. Two, I want to hold my pup which I’m already doing. And three, I need you to call a press conference.”

“A press conference? Why?” asked Pepper as he got out her phone.

“Let’s just say that some serious changes need to be made.” 

The press conference that Tony held didn’t go as smoothly as he planned in his head. But since when did anything ever go as planned for Tony? He rambled on about his father for a minute, people asked him what happened in Afghanistan and Tony just told them that he had his eyes opened. And then Tony dropped the bombshell of shutting down all weapons manufacturing at SI. It was a long time coming but instantly people were furious about his decision. Stane especially. His competency was immediately called into question. People had always argued that Tony shouldn’t have any control over SI because he was an Omega. The arguments resurfaced the second Tony left the conference to go back home with Peter.

There was also a man there named Agent Phil Coulson who wanted to speak with Tony but he paid him no mind. He just wanted to go home.

At the moment Tony didn’t pay any mind to Stane or the reports about him. He was back home with his pup and was about to celebrate his 7th birthday. Tony just so happened to arrive back home on Peter’s birthday and he was determined to spend the rest of it with his pup and family.

The next few days were rough at the Stark household. Mama Rhodes stuck around for the first two days to help around the house. Tony’s arm was still in a sling and he was still malnourished and shaky from his time in that fucking cave. He didn’t sleep well at all and Peter didn’t leave his side for a second. So Mama Rhodes did a lot of work to help out. She also made sure that Tony got plenty of hugs so he wasn’t complaining at all.

But when Mama Rhodes left, things got worse. Tony finally managed to get Peter to sleep in his own bed so there was that. But Tony was plagued by nightmares of what had happened. But his nightmares weren’t only of Afghanistan. Tony also dreamt of his own shitty childhood, Peter’s birth, and his family getting hurt because the weapons that he’d created were still out there.

The nightmares only got worse once Tony found out that Stane knew about the arc reactor in his chest. There was so much unnecessary touching and Tony hated it. Although when Stane touched Tony’s bonding bite left there by James and said something along the lines of “it’s a damn shame,” that was when Tony had had enough and went back home. He had some shit to get done. 

The first thing Tony did was make himself a new reactor. His current one wasn’t cutting it and it was time for an upgrade. He made a few actually. Just in case. He also had Pepper help him put in the new one. She didn’t speak to him for a few hours after that. 

Tony wasn’t entirely sure what possessed him to remake the suit that had gotten him out of that cave, but he didn’t really question anything. His weapons were still out there and he needed a way to get in and get rid of them before anyone else got hurt.

There was also the fact that Tony’s subconscious was screaming at him to protect himself and his pup and a big hunk of metal seemed to be doing the trick. But we’re not going to talk about that. 

Making the suit was intense. Tony started his work at night while Peter was sleeping safely in his bed. Tony still couldn’t really sleep do working in the lab was his best option to keep himself grounded. He really needed to see a therapist but Tony didn’t want to until he was sure that this weapons thing was under control. Somebody was dealing under the table and he was determined to find out who.

Learning to fly was not something Tony anticipated being hard.

Peter was back at school and starting second grade when Tony tried out his boots for the first time. He learned very quickly how to handle the propulsion. He’d cracked his head open from getting blown into the ceiling and he had to have Happy stitch him up when he went to find him. Tony was just lucky he didn’t have a concussion. 

Tony also learned to take DUM-E off of fire duty. But that didn’t stick very well.

Tony learned to fly quickly after he’d healed. Peter had been concerned when he’d gotten home from school only to see the gash on Tony’s head and the ice pack in his shoulder. Tony just held him close and told Peter that he was fine and that he’d just gotten into a little accident while in the lab.

Tony hadn’t been expecting for Peter to find out about his suit.

After Tony’s first flight and subsequent crash landing, Peter had walked in on Tony trying to get out of his now dented silver-coloured suit. Tony hadn’t even noticed his son at first. He was still riding high on adrenaline and was thinking up more ways to make the suit even better before he took it out for its true purpose.

“Mamma? Why are you in a big metal suit?” came Peter’s shy voice. Tony spun around from his seat on the floor where he was struggling to remove his chest plate.

“Shit…”

“THAT’S A BAD WORD!”

Tony honestly didn’t really know how to broach the subject with Peter. He had nothing. No think. Brain empty. So, he told Peter the truth. Peter was a smart pup. He understood science. So, Tony focused on the robotics and science and Peter ate it up. His pup thought it was all so cool.

“It’s like you’re a superhero, Mamma!”

It was hard getting Peter to actually go to bed that night because the pup was so excited. 

Tony was pretty quick to get a working suit in order that wouldn’t crap out at high altitudes. He still did most of his work while Peter was at school while he pointedly avoided Stane. Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy would check in on him but he didn’t give anything away. He knew his friends were concerned. He didn’t want to worry them any more than he already was.

But things changed the second Tony turned on the news two days after completing his suit.

On the screen, a reporter went into great detail about the devastation that had taken over the village that Yinson had been from. Those were his weapons causing all that damage and death. Tony couldn’t handle it. As Tony worked on the gauntlet in his hand he caught his reflection in the glass door to his lab space. He stared at his reflection and what looked back were the eyes of a monster.

Tony shot his reflection point-blank and felt his stomach twist into knots. This was his fault. Every last bad thing was his fault. It was his fault the people were getting hurt. It was his fault that his father beat him for being a useless Omega. It was his fault that James had left him after his heat. It was his fault that he was raising Peter alone. It was his fault that he’d been kidnapped and tortured.

Tony fell to his knees with a scream. He was lucky that nobody was home. Peter didn’t need to see him like this.

It took Tony a few minutes to compose himself, the pit in his stomach never really leaving. But eventually, Tony got up and went to go put on the suit. He had some business to conduct. Plus, it was still quite early in the day. Peter had only left for school an hour ago. With the speeds Tony knew the suit could make, he’d be back in time to greet Peter after Happy picked him up.

So, Tony flew. He flew and he reflected. Tony often hated being alone with his thoughts. He tended to fixate on either complex equations and science, or on every single thing that had ever gone wrong. There was no in-between. It often left him agitated or panicky. He never let Peter see him like that.

Tony was merciless when he landed in the ruins of what was likely once a beautiful village. He didn’t hesitate for a second to take out the terrorists there who were killing indiscriminately. Although he could have gone without being shot at by a tank after he’d dropped a terrorist at the feet of the villagers. They deserved to deal out the punishment that they saw fit. 

While he was there Tony also took out as many of his stolen weapons as he could. But things took a turn when Tony made to leave. Very quickly he was being chased down by two F-22 jets and Rhodey was calling him. 

“Do you have any tech in my active war zone Tones? We’re picking up a bogie really close to where you were held captive.” asked Rhodey the second Tony answered.

“No…” breathed out Tony as the air whipped around him.

“What’s that noise?”

“I’m driving with the top down.” Lied Tony.

“Why do you sound out of breath?” asked Rhodey and Tony internally cursed. Rhodey always sort of knew when he was lying.

“I’m jogging in the canyon.”

“First of all, you don’t jog. Second, I thought you were driving with the top down.”

“Well… I uh…” stammered Tony as he continued to work on out flying the jets tailing him.

“Look, are you sure you don’t have any equipment here?”

“…Yes…”

“Alright, because we’ve got something on our radar and we’re about to engage.”

Tony took that as his queue to leave and he quickly went into supersonic speeds. He just wasn’t expecting the jets to keep up as well as they did. Well, he really should have. He helped design them after all. What he didn’t anticipate was being shot at. Luckily, nothing hit him but he did have to fall back and grasp onto the underbelly of one of the jets to get off of the radar.

He was fucked. He had to call Rhodey.

“Hi Rhodey, it’s me.” Breathed out, Tony. He was starting to feel quite exhausted after the events of the day. 

“It’s who?”

“I’m sorry. It is me. What you’re asking about is me.”

“No see, this isn’t a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone!”

“It’s not a piece of equipment! I’m in it. It’s a suit! It’s me!”

And that was when everything went from bad to worse. Tony was spotted and throw off from his spot and he was unable to gain control of the suit fast enough. This was only his second time out after all. But while he was trying to regain control he was tossed through the wing of the other jet. The wing broke clean in half and the jet started to go down.

The pilot of the jet quickly ejected and began to fall, his parachute not opening. Tony saw that and began to panic. He couldn’t have another innocent death on his hands! So, he raced down to the falling pilot and pilled the manual release for him before he flew off. He checked his shoulder and smiled when he saw that he was no longer being tailed. He could finally fly back home with just enough time to get the suit off before Peter got home.

“Tony? You still there?” asked Rhodey over the phone. Honestly, Tony had forgotten that he was still there.

“Yup.”

“Oh, my got you crazy son of a bitch. Mama’s gonna kill you if she ever finds out about this!” chastised Rhodey and Tony smiled.

“Well, then we just have to make sure she never finds out.”

“You owe me a plane now Tones.”

“Well, technically he hit me so…”

“What am I supposed to tell everybody? I can’t just say that it’s you!”

“Say it was a training exercise. Isn’t that what you always say?” 

Tony was absolutely ecstatic to finally get home. He had about an hour before Peter got home from school and he was more than ready to take off the suit and grab a snack and shower before his pup got home all excited to help Tony down in the workshop. What Tony didn’t factor in was the suit not wanting to come off now that it was dented and full of bullet holes. What Tony also didn’t factor in was Pepper coming down to the lab while Tony struggled to take it off. 

“Tony! What the fuck is this?!” shouted Pepper and Tony just stared at her.

“Let’s be honest this is not the worst thing you’ve seen down here.” Spoke Tony referring to the time Pepper had found him after giving birth to Peter.

“Are those… are those bullet holes? Tony?” fretted Pepper and Tony looked at the ground guiltily.

Eventually Tony managed to extract himself from the broken suit all the while Pepper glared at him. He wasn’t sure if she was angry or worried. Well, there was only one way to find out. So, when Pepper asked him what the hell was going on, Tony told her. He tried to keep a level head about everything but inevitably they devolved into yelling. Pepper out of worry, and Tony out of stress, lack of sleep, and adrenaline over what had just happened.

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you die! What about Peter? Did you even think about your pup for one god damn second before you did this?” argued Pepper, her hands shaking as she paced back and forth around Tony’s workbench.

“I did, and you know what? I know in my heart that this is right. My weapons are out there Pep. They’re out there because somebody is taking them. They’re out there because I didn’t push things hard enough. They’re out there and people are dying. Fuck, my own fucking weapons nearly killed me. And who knows? Maybe somebody will use them to try and kill Peter. I would rather die horribly than let that happen.” Shouted Tony, his voice catching every so often as he spoke. 

“Tony…”

“I shouldn’t be alive unless it was for a reason.”

That phrase was enough to send everything crashing down. Pepper enveloped him in a hug and they just stood there for a little while. Emotions had run high and they just needed a moment. Pepper had become one of Tony’s closest confidants after he’d fallen pregnant. They were close so it was natural for Pepper to worry about Tony.

“I worry about you sometimes Tony. I know you’ve been trying so hard for Peter but I also know you’re hurting inside. You don’t need to carry the entire world on your shoulders. If I can help you in any way, please let me know. You don’t have to do this alone.” Spoke Pepper as they pulled apart and moved to the couch.

“Well, um… I could use a bit of help. I’d normally ask Rhodey but he’s a bit busy right now fixing a problem.” Started Tony. “I need help finding out who’s been stealing my weapons. J can only do so much and if it’s been hidden in a paper trail then I need help.”

“I’ll help you, Tony. Of course, I’ll help you. We’ll figure this out and we’ll both be alright.”

Pepper left soon after that as Peter had gotten home from school and Tony needed to tend to his pup. Peter was a little ball of energy as he talked about his day. He’d done a new science experiment in class and was excited to show off what they’d made. Tony smiled as he watched Peter talk. He loved his pup so much. He didn’t know where he’d be without Peter. Probably dead in a ditch somewhere or struggling more than he already was with all of his demons.

If only James had stuck around long enough to meet his son.

A week later Tony came across some absolutely horrifying information while he was sleuthing around in the SI servers. He found so many shipment manifests with Stane’s signature. That sent up so many red flags because Tony was the only one with the authority at SI to sign off of weapons shipments. 

And then there was the one sent to the Ten Rings. The same people who kidnapped Tony were being dealt weapons personally by Stane.

Tony’s stomach dropped and his breathing sped up. No. No this couldn’t be right. Obadiah Stane was his godfather. He’d worked for the company for decades. No. No this wasn’t right. No! His… his own godfather tried to have him killed so he could sell weapons to terrorists! Peter would have been an orphan. Unless… unless Stane was planning to kill him too.

Tony saw red. 

This… this had to stop. Tony couldn’t let this go on a second longer, so he called Pepper for back up. He had her go to Stane’s office to gather more information right from the source under the guise of grabbing things for Tony who had mostly been housebound since coming back from Afghanistan. It should have been simple.

Too back nothing in Tony’s life was ever simple.

When Stane used one of his own weapons against him just as Pepper was calling him, he felt so much betrayal. This was his godfather. A man who had known Tony since he was just a little pup himself. This was a man who had given Tony comfort when his Mamma had died.

Tony hated that he couldn’t move as Stane loomed over him with a sinister smirk on his face. He was oh so gentle with Tony as he set him down on the living room couch. Every touch made Tony’s skin crawl. Tony was happy that Peter was at a sleepover with a few classmates. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if his son were there with him. 

“Oh Tony, what am I going to do with you?” cooed Stane as he ran a hand reverently around the arc reactor in his chest.

“Did you think that just because you have an idea it belongs to you? Such a shame.”

Stane moved his hand from where it was resting on Tony’s chest over to caress the mating mark on Tony’s neck. Tony wanted nothing more than to move away from the man but under the weapons effects, he was stuck laying there while Stane touched him. He wanted to throw up. 

“If only you didn’t have that mark on your neck. Maybe I could have made you into something great. Something other than the useless Omega you are. You know I thought when I put out the hit on you that I was killing the golden goose. Well, it turns out that you had one last egg to give.” 

Tony began to panic when Stane pulled a claw-like device from the briefcase he’d brought in with him and placed it on the coffee table. He placed it to the arc reactor and smiled maniacally as it dug into the reactor and wrenched it from Tony’s chest. Tony could do nothing except lay there and take it. Almost instantly his chest seized and his mind felt dizzy. There was pain. So much pain. It made Tony blackout for a moment.

Tony could do nothing as Stane left with a smile on his face.

As Tony lay there on the couch he found himself quickly faced with his own mortality. His clock was running out and if he didn’t get down to the lab where he had a few spare reactors then he was toast. So, Tony struggled. He struggled with every fiber of his being. He wasn’t going to die on that couch. He wasn’t going to leave Peter an orphan.

Tony could have cried as he started to get enough feeling in his arms to crawl towards the stairs down to the lab. Every movement hurt but Tony pushed on. No matter how self-loathing and suicidal he’d been in the past he refused to die now. He had Peter to think of. Peter was his entire world since his mate wasn’t around. He wasn’t going to leave Peter to Stane and the vultures.

By the time Tony finally tumbled down the stairs his vision was starting to go blurry again. His chest was on fire and every little movement was laborious. He saw the cabinet across the room with the extra reactors and he knew he wasn’t going to make it there. His only hope now lay in his old reactor that was sitting in a little shadowbox on his lab table. Tony had told Pepper to incinerate it but a few days later it had been presented to him by both Pepper and Peter with the words “Tony Stark Has A Heart” written around the edge.

Tony scrambled to grab it but found it increasingly more difficult to focus on what was going on anything. Tony slumped against the aide of the table and tried to calm the panic brewing in his chest. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it.

So thank fuck that DUM-E had enough of a brain to bring the shadowbox down to Tony so that he could smash it. It took some effort to attach the reactor into the socket with how numb his hands felt but Tony managed it. He didn’t know how but he managed it. Now all he needed to was regain the feeling in his body and for the cold sweats to stop.

“Tony!” came a shout from upstairs. It was Rhodey! Pepper must have sent him when Tony didn’t answer the phone.

“Tony!” came the shout again. And Tony struggled to sit up. He heard Rhodey’s footsteps get closer and closer until he was kneeling in front of Tony with his hands on his shoulders. 

“Tony! You alright?” worried Rhodey as he helped a shaky Tony to his feet.

“Yeah…” breathed out Tony as he wobbled where he stood. “Where’s Pepper?”

“She’s fine. Pepper’s got some guys with her. They’re going to arrest Stane.”

“That’s not going to be enough.” Rasped out, Tony. He knew that Stane had taken the reactor for a reason and that reason had to be bad news.

Tony stumbled to the back of the lab where the newly fixed suit stood tall. He quickly started putting it on while Rhodey inspected his creation with the same critical eyes he used to use when they were making machines together at MIT.

“So this is the suit?” asked Rhodey as Tony struggled with some of the latches. 

“Yup.”

“And you’re going to go kick Stane’s ass in it.”

“That’s the plan.”

“How can I help?”

“Keep the skies clear and if anything happens to me make sure Peter gets taken to Mama.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to you Tones.”

Tony didn’t stick around for very long once he had the suit on. He had JARVIS monitoring the skies and Rhodey giving him more information on the military side of things. He flew as fast as he could to SI’s main plant where Pepper and the others were. By the time he got there, Stane was in a giant suit of his won making and rampaging around the building causing damage. Tony made sure that Pepper got out of the way before he started in his pursuit of his once father figure.

They took to the streets as Stane maneuvered his suit around. They ended up in traffic where Stane tried to throw a car occupied with a mother and her children at Tony. Tony managed to catch them before anything bad happened before he thought of an idea to take care of Stane. He took to the sky and watched as Stane followed him. His goal was to get as high up as possible to hopefully expose the flaws in Stane’s suit.

As they soared higher and higher Tony knew he was pushing the rector to its limits. JARVIS was shouting numbers at him and Tony could feel the pain and dizziness seeping back into his bones. Be he couldn’t just stop now. He had a job to do. Tony panicked a bit when he felt Stane grab his ankle but as he looked down at him, Tony knew his plan had worked. 

“Give it up Tony. My suit is superior to yours in every way!” taunted Stane and Tony smiled under his mask.

“Oh yeah, how did you sold the icing problem?”

“Icing problem?”

Tony didn’t even hesitate to hit Stane in the head and send him spiralling down to the ground below. Tony watched as he fell for a few seconds before he slowly began to make his own way back down to solid ground.

The second Tony landed he ran to find Pepper. She was shocked over what had just happened and she was more than ready to head back home, but the fight was far from over. Stane had survived his fall and was hell-bent on trying to finish the job he’d started by sending Tony to Afghanistan. He and Tony faced off on the roof over the plant’s arc reactor. But, with Tony’s reactor failing he was at a disadvantage. He had given Pepper instructions when Stane attacked again and he knew it was time. As he dangled from a steel beam while Stane shot at him, Tony looked down at Pepper and shouted for her to get to the reactor overload button. 

“Just do it!”

“Tony you’ll die!”

“DO IT! PUSH THE BUTTON!” 

Electric currents ran through Tony’s body as the rector overloaded Tony was blasted into the air and he landed back in the little glass that remained on the roof as Stane fell right into the centre of the explosion and met his end. But Tony didn’t notice any of that. All he registered was the pain that coursed through his veins.

Tony blacked out hearing Pepper yelling after him. 

Tony woke up to Pepper and Rhodey fussing over him back at the house. He didn’t know how he got back home but he wasn’t going to complain. His chest hurt and he felt like shit, but he was alive. It was still dark out but Tony didn’t care. Stane was dead and he would never be able to hurt him again. He’d never be able to get near Peter. His pup was safe. That was all he cared about.

Tony fell back asleep again not long after he’d woken up and confirmed with his friends that he was alive. He slept alright and wasn’t plagued by his normal nightmares. Although Tony chalked that up the sheer exhaustion.

The next morning Toy was dragged off to a press conference before he was even able to greet Peter after he came home from his sleepover. The man from before, Agent Coulson, had dragged him there along with Pepper and quickly gave Tony a script to follow. But upon reading it, Tony knew it was bullshit. There was nothing in there about Stane and his under the table dealings. There was nothing in there about the so-called Iron Man suit. There was nothing about accountability. If there was one thing that Tony made sure to teach Peter it was to be accountable for his actions. So naturally, Tony threw the cards in the trash and shot a glare back at Coulson. All Tony wanted to do was go home and spend time with his son.

So when asked about the event that had happened the night before, Tony told the truth. 

“The truth is…I am Iron Man.”

Tony didn’t really stick around for questions afterwards. He was tired and sore and he just wanted to go back home to Peter. So like the first time, Tony just went home. He went home to find JARVIS down and a strange man sitting on the couch with Peter who was talking non-stop about his new science experiment.

“What the hell do you want Fury?” snapped Tony and Fury looked up. Fury had known Tony since he was a kid. Sometimes Tony would be brought into SHIELD with Peggy when she was made to watch over him. Of course Tony didn’t really know what SHIELD was. He just thought his Aunty Peggy was a spy and super cool. And well, Tony still wasn’t entirely sure what SHIELD was. He’d been too busy with Peter and SI to look into it.

“I am Iron Man.” Smirked Fury and Tony frowned as his son went running into his arms with a smile.

“Yes…”

“It’s gotta take a lot of guts to announce that to the world. Especially because you’re an Omega.”

“Well, I’ve never let that stop me before.”

“Be careful Stark because you’ve just entered a world that’s much larger than you think.” 

Tony didn’t really listen to what Fury was saying as the man stood up and left. Something about the Avengers, Tony wasn’t sure. He had an armful of Peter to worry about. His pup was going on and on about the press conference and how cool it was that his Mamma was a superhero. Tony was just happy that Peter was safe. 

Things should have gotten easier after that. After telling the truth. Tony should have been able to find a therapist to help him with what had happened with his life. He should have gotten to go out more with Peter. He should have been able to correct his mistakes and work on being better. But then Tony started getting sick. His chest hurt; he was often left confused. Tony would throw up a lot and his vision would get blurry.

Palladium poisoning was a bitch.

Tony hid it all from Peter of course. He didn’t want his pup to worry. He wanted Peter happy. He didn’t want to see his pup all sad when he learned that his Mamma was sick. Tony didn’t tell anyone else either. He left Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy in the dark about everything but he did quietly rework his will to make sure the people he cared about got taken care of.

Tony worked desperately to find a cure. The thing that was keeping him alive was slowly killing him and the more he used the suit the worse it got. Tony would admit that he was scared. He didn’t really want to die. Not any more. He used to before Peter was born.

There was a very long, dark time in Tony's life where he wanted desperately to just end it all. There were multiple times as a child where Tony had had enough of Howard’s abuse but Jarvis, the real Jarvis, always stopped him. Tony had tried to commit suicide a few times. Once as a teen at MIT after Howard had shown up and beaten him black and blue after some incident that Tony didn’t remember. Tony tried again in his 20’s after Rhodey had left for the air force. And there was one more time just before he’d met James.

So Tony wasn’t unfamiliar with wanting to die, but he desperately wanted to stay alive now for Peter.

But maybe this was his penance. Maybe this was the universe giving him what he deserved after so many people had died by his weapons. Sure he was just the one to make them. He didn’t sell them under the table or fire the damn things. Sure he’d only really been in weapons because he was following in Howard's footsteps because he was told to. And you know what? Howard never got any of the hate that Tony did for making weapons.

But either way, Tony was dying and he was scared.

Tony tried everything he and JARVIS could think of in his search for a cure. Every known element and compound that could possibly help him. Nothing worked. Tony would sit in his lap alone, late at night after Peter had been put to bed and he’d just contemplate while trying not to throw up. He was in so much pain but he couldn’t do anything.

All Tony could do was wait for death to finally claim him as it should have years and years ago.

So, all Tony could do while he waited to die and make sure that Peter was well taken care of and that SI wouldn’t suffer once he was gone. Tony spent a lot of time just doing things with his pup. He and Peter would play at the beach even though Tony hated the water after Afghanistan. He’d spend time in the lab with Peter just making things or playing with the bots. He wanted Peter to know how much he loved him. He also told Peter what little information he knew about his father, just so that Peter would have that.

When Tony wasn’t spending time with Peter, he was making sure that SI would survive without him. He drew up hundreds of designs for new products such as phones and computers. He put in strict instructions to make sure that SI never made weapons again. He didn’t want Peter to inherit a weapons empire as he had. 

One of Tony’s big (and also very stupid but he didn’t know that yet) plans was to resurrect the Stark Expo. Yes the expo was something that Howard had started and Tony hated Howard, but he thought it would be a good idea so that SI could look for new inventors and visionaries for when he was gone.

Peter was pretty excited about the expo. He couldn’t wait to see all the new inventions and people. Plus he’d get to spend time behind the scenes with Tony just exploring how things worked. Tony would just smile and nod along to Peter’s excited ramblings. 

The first day of the expo was absolutely insane and Tony felt sick the entire day. Because Tony was Tony he opted for a grand entrance into the expo. But that was only really because that was what was expected of him. He didn’t really want the dancing and the spectacle. He didn’t want to parade around like a dancing monkey. It also didn’t help that Tony was feeling sick as a dog and he wanted nothing more than to lie down with Peter and just watch a movie. Peter was going through a Star Wars phase.

Tony hated all the lights and fanfare that night. It made him feel so sick and dizzy. But he kept his press smile plastered to his face and paraded around like a good little Omega for everyone to gawk at. Tony was so fucking happy when he finally got to leave.

He was less happy about the court order that was forced into his hand as he left. Tony hated being handed things unless he absolutely trusted the person handing the thing to him. Howard really did a number on him as a kid. 

But, like the good little Omega he was, Tony appeared on time for his senate hearing with Pepper and Rhodey on his side. He spent the entire time being yelled at and criticized and called every derogatory name for Omegas in the book. He had Justin fucking Hammer come and testify against him and his sue of the Iron Man suit. They wanted Tony to hand it over to the military.

Tony refused and inferred that Senator Stern was soliciting prostitutes while Rhodey smirked at his side. Not one of his best moves. He really hoped that Peter didn’t ask him about that when he was older. Although it wouldn’t be the first time that a Stark had said something like that in a court hearing. 

It was when Tony was flying back home from the hearing in DC that he had an epiphany. It was late and night and Happy, Pepper, and Rhodey were asleep in their plane seat. Tony was wide awake in his with Peter’s head on his lap. He just sat there and pondered what was going on and his quickly impending mortality. What would be his legacy? How would he make sure that Peter inherited what was rightfully his?

Tony thought about things for a long time. He knew what he needed to do.

“Why?” asked Pepper the next day as she and Tony puttered around the lab finishing up some paperwork for the board.

“Because you’re best suited for the job. And hey, it turns out that I can pick my own successor.” Spoke Tony as he flung around a ball on nanites. He was planning to figure out a way to incorporate them into the Iron Man suit.

“Yes but that doesn’t explain why.” Argued back Pepper and Tony sighed.

“Pep, I was never cut out for the whole CEO thing. I prefer inventing to board meetings and being yelled at for being an Omega in business. I hate the travelling that happens. Peter’s growing up fast. He’s going to be 8-years-old soon. I don’t want to miss out on time with him.”

Pepper paused what she was doing and looked over at Tony. She was so sure that something was wrong but by what Tony was saying but she had no clue how to bring it up. Or maybe he really did just want to spend more time with Peter. She knew that Tony hadn’t been doing great the last few years due to the lack of a mate and traumatic birth. Maybe some time away from things would be good for him.

“Fine Tony. I’ll take over. But that doesn’t get you out of all the board meetings. You’ll still be head of Research and Development. That doesn’t get you out of meetings.” Smiled Pepper and Tony groaned.

Two days later Tony and Happy were boxing together for fun while Peter sat off to the side watching and finishing his homework. Tony was holding his own pretty well when Pepper and a red-haired lady walked in with a stack of papers.

“Tony the notary is here. You need to sign off on some things.” Called Pepper and Tony dragged himself out of the ring. He was all gross and sweaty but he didn’t give two shits about that.

The Alpha woman with Pepper looked very well put together. Dark red hair with an air of authority around her. She looked like she took no shit from anybody. She was strong too. Happy invited her into the boxing ring to fight for a bit while Tony and Pepper tackled the paperwork. She took him down easily and Tony instantly began looking her up once he got a name.

Natalie Rushman was a fine woman indeed. She was smart if her educational background was real. Who the hell learns Latin? Not even Tony knew Latin. Everything really looked too good to be true. But, with Pepper now CEO, Tony needed someone to fill in as his PA. He needed help getting the last of his affairs in order before he kicked the bucket. He needed to make sure Peter was well taken care of and with his health rapidly declining, Tony needed help. Sure he could always ask Happy, Pepper, or Rhodey, but they were busy and Tony didn’t want them to hurt any more than they already would once he died. 

So the next day Tony contacted Ms. Rushman and asked her to be his PA. She accepted immediately.

That should have been a bit of a red flag but Tony was honestly too sick some days to care. He didn’t let it show though when Peter was home. But when Peter wasn’t home and Tony was alone, he was mostly bed or couch ridden. Tony knew he was getting sicker. He probably only had a month or two left at most. And didn’t that just fill him with existential dread. Sure, Tony was ready to die. He’d been ready for most of his life. But he didn’t want to leave his pup. He didn’t.

But Tony figured that if he was going to die then he was going to live a little. Although this decision was likely fuelled by his slowly deteriorating mental state due to the poisoning. 

Although the trip to Monaco had been planned in advance and was a great way for Pepper to begin networking as the CEO of Stark Industries, Tony still found a way to fuck up the trip. He was just glad that Peter wasn’t there. He was spending the week with Mama Rhodes who was no doubt spoiling him rotten. She’d be good for Peter once Tony was gone. Tony knew that she would take good care of his pup.

In Tony’s opinion, Monaco sucked. It was one thing to be feeling like literal garbage while trailing after Pepper and Natalie, but it was another to be annoyed by Justin Hammer for what felt like others. If it would have caused a horrible PR nightmare for Pepper, he would have socked the Alpha in the jaw. Although Tony was pretty sure the man wasn’t an Alpha and was just using artificial scents to seem more important than he actually was.

Tony was lucky to get a moment to himself alone in the bathroom where he was able to check his blood toxicity. It had gone up again and Tony felt his heart sink. He hated this. He really did. Tony didn’t want to go but he could already feel death’s icy hand clawing at his chest.

“You got any more good ideas?” he asked his reflection.

Well, it turned out that Tony was pretty much out of any god ideas at this point because he soon found himself driving a race car with limited memory of how he got there. And that race went to shit about a minute in when a shirtless maniac with a working arc reactor and whips stepped out onto the road with the intent to kill Tony.

Of course, Tony fought back. He wasn’t going to let some ass wipe ruin things further for him. But things very quickly went south. Normally Tony was quite strong without his suit, but he’d been so sick that he just wasn’t where he used to be. So he was very grateful when Pepper and Happy showed up with his suitcase suit and a car to run over the mystery man with. 

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” shouted Pepper as he threw the suitcase at Tony.

“I WAS ATTACKED!”

Tony was lucky to make it out of that situation with only minor burns and a twisted elbow. He’d be fine though. Not that that really mattered.

Later that day, by some miracle, Tony was allowed to visit the jail cell of the man who attacked him. His name was Ivan Vanko and was the son of a soviet scientist. Tony didn’t know how he’d managed to make a working arc reactor, but he was worried that he had. He must have had old plans for one stashed away somewhere. Tony didn’t like it and he knew he had to get to the bottom of all of this.

On the plane ride back from Monaco, Tony thought long and hard over whether not he should tell somebody that he was sick and dying. Pepper was right there and he could tell her and possibly get some help as he died, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. So, Tony just made a sorry excuse of an omelet to apologize for what had happened a few days before. Tony was never good at making eggs. Other foods yes, but not eggs. 

Pepper was suspicious of his apology eggs but she didn’t press.

Once Tony got back home, he wanted nothing more than to start looking into this Vanko guy but Peter was there and he wanted to spend time with his pup. He could do research once Peter was back at school.

They spent the weekend playing games and making cannoli. Peter couldn’t stop smiling and Tony was glad to help make some memories that Peter would always remember.

As Peter returned to school after his week off, Tony got to work on figuring out who this Vanko guy was. His digging revealed some surprising news. Ivan Vanko’s father was a man named Anton Vanko. Anton Vanko used to work with Howard Stark on the original design for the arc reactor. Anton Vanko stole the design and tried to sell it to the soviets but Howard caught on and stopped him. The man was caught and punished by the soviets for failing and sent to Siberia where he died a month ago.

Turned out that his son wanted revenge on Tony for something his father had done before he was even born. Seemed like Howard Stark was still screwing Tony over from beyond the grave. Funny how that happens.

So, Tony started making contingencies for if shit hit the fan while he was still alive. Hammer was up to something. He just knew it. And with this Vanko guy showing up, Tony was sure that trouble was brewing.

But that didn’t stop Tony from getting sicker. There were thick black lines running from the arc reactor all over his chest and slowly crawling up his neck. Tony hated them. They were hard to hide and people began to notice. Although the lines may not have been what got Rhodey worried one morning when he came to visit. They were supposed to be working on some new body armour together but they quickly got sidetracked when Tony broke out in a cold sweat and his legs gave out from underneath him. Rhodey was quick to catch him and help him sit down in one of the seats of a nearby car.

“Tones? You good?” asked Rhodey and Tony nodded. He felt out of breath and his chest was hurting something awful.

“Can… can you pass me that box? The back one on the table near my wrenches?” asked Tony as his hands shook. Rhodey nodded and was quick to retrieve the box for Tony.

Tony opened the box with shaky hands and lifted up his shirt enough to remove his reactor and insert a new core. The old one came out burned and smoking and filled the air with a metallic scent. Rhodey stared one as Tony out the reactor back in his chest with a pained huff.

“Tony… is that thing supposed to be smoking? What the hell is going on?”

Tony just sat there for a second to catch his breath before answering.

“Neutron damage. Palladium isn’t made to last.”

“Tony… Tony palladium is poisonous. You shouldn’t have that in your body.” Worried Rhodey and Tony shrugged.

“It’s the only thing that works.”

“Tony… that’s… is this why you’ve been acting weird? Is the palladium… are you?” asked Rhodey as he sat down next to Tony, the pieces finally falling into place in his mind.

Now Tony was faced with a dilemma. He could lie and say he was fine, but he knew Rhodey would see right through him. Or Tony could tell the truth but then be faced with everyone’s worry and disappointment. Tony didn’t know what to do so he just nodded and looked down at his hands. They were still shaking.

“Oh, Tony.” 

The two sat in silence for a bit. Neither knew what to say in the wake of Rhodey’s revelation and Tony’s somewhat confession. Both were feeling a myriad of emotions but Rhodey’s were the most apparent as they were painted all over his face. Anger and sadness stood out the most, but then again, Tony was never the best at reading people. He was good at faking that though. 

“You know you don’t have to do this alone. You got me and Happy and Pepper. You don’t need to pull the lone gunslinger routine.” Spoke Rhodey after a while. He helped Tony to his feet and over to the couch in the lab so that they could be more comfortable. 

“… thank you.” Was all Tony said in response.

When Rhodey left later that night he told Pepper and Happy what was going on. All three started conspiring a way to help Tony. Well, they didn’t know how to help him but they agreed that it would be best to make sure he was at least comfortable. His birthday was coming up and the least they could do was be there for him.

There were a lot of tears on that group call that night.

Three days later was Tony’s birthday and also when Tony got his first really big red flag from Natalie. It was the early afternoon and Tony was sitting in his lab filling out some paperwork that she had brought for him when he asked a very innocent question.

“If you only had one birthday left, what would you do?”

“I think I would do whatever the hell I wanted.” Spoke Natalie, her voice dropping a bit to a more seductive tone. It caught Tony off guard.

“You know, your birthday is today. I heard that turning 39 is a good excuse for a big party.” Purred Natalie and Tony frowned. Tony moved away a bit. The Alpha was making him a bit uneasy.

“I haven’t been in the party scene since Peter was born. I’m not about to start. I never really liked it anyway.” Rebutted Tony and Natalie just continued on.

“Well, I think an Omega such as yourself needs to live a little. It can’t be easy doing all of this by yourself without an Alpha.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Tony as he grew more and more suspicious.”

“I’m just saying that you need to live a little. You only live once after all.” Cooed Natalie. Tony could smell her scent thickening and it made him a bit dizzy. He knew that she was trying to use her scent on him so he back off as far as he could get.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“How about I call up some people and you can have a real birthday bash. I’m sure you have enough money to get the best alcohol for yourself.” At the mention of alcohol Tony just got mad. He’d been sober since he’d fallen pregnant with Peter and he’d was damn proud of that. Alcohol addictions and dependencies ran in his family and he was proud of the fact that he’d overcome his addictions. He wasn’t about to turn back to the bottle. Never.

“I think it’s time that you leave Ms. Rushman. I have no further use for you here.” Seethed Tony and Natalie looked at him with anger in her eyes.

Tony called Happy to make sure she was escorted away from the house and he filed some severance papers to make sure that she no longer had a job with him. It may have been a rash move but she had crossed a line. 

Tony spent his birthday evening surrounded by his friends and Peter. They played games and watched movies. They had Tony’s favourite Italian food and a huge cake for dessert. Tony made sure to give Peter an extra big slice. His pup deserved it for being the best pup in the whole damn world. Seeing Peter smile made Tony feel a bit better. His pup and friends had made his last birthday worth it. 

Although it was Tony’s birthday, he was the one that gave out the biggest gift of all. Once Peter had gone to bed, Tony gifted Rhodey with an Iron Man suit of his own. It was painted silver and black with a mounted shoulder gun. It was programmed only to accept Rhodey as a pilot and Tony was proud of the work he’d put into it.

Rhodey accepted the gift gracefully and promised to try and keep it away from the military. Although Rhodey would much rather have his brother alive and well instead of a suit of metal.

The next morning Tony opted to go get some doughnuts for breakfast for him and Peter as a treat. He left Happy with Peter and drove out to a little doughnut shop and café that he and Peter liked. He picked out his and Peter’s favourites and was just about to exit the shop when he was cornered by none other than Nick Fury and his new PA, Natalie Rushman. This wasn’t good.

“You’re fired.” Sighed Tony as he was forced to sit down with Fury and Natalie in an empty booth in the back of the shop.

“You don’t have the authority to do that Stark. This is Agent Natasha Romanov. She works for me.” Spoke Fury and Tony wanted nothing more than to just get up and leave even if he knew it wouldn’t end well.

“What do you want?” huffed Tony. He felt like throwing up and just wanted to go home.

“What do I want? What I want is for you to stop being a pain in my ass, Stark. You’re causing problems that I shouldn’t have to deal with. First, you have your whole “I am Iron Man” thing and the next your giving away things and making your PA your CEO. You’re erratic Stark and I don’t want to be dealing with that.”

“Well, you’re the one who made it your problem.” Snarked Tony as he struggled a bit to sit up. Fury caught that and motioned for Natasha to move in closer with the huge ass syringe she had in her hands. Tony saw it and tried to back away but was cornered by the Alpha. She stabbed the needle into Tony’s neck and the pain was instant. Tony pushed her away and glared at the two SHIELD agents as his hands shook.

“What the HELL was that?” shouted Tony.

“Just a little something to keep the edge off. You need to fix this before I have to deal with anything else.”

“There is nothing else. There is nothing more I can do to stop this so just let me spend my last few days with my pup. That’s the least you can do.”

“I don’t think so Stark. That thing in your chest is based on unfinished tech. I think we have the means to finish it.” Spoke Fury and Tony felt even more put off than he already was.

“So you’re saying that you had something that could possibly help me and you KEPT it from me! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“None of that Stark. Get your ass back to your house so we can discuss this further.”

Tony didn’t even have a chance to answer before he was being dragged back to his car and driven back home. There were already a few SHIELD vans outside and that worried Tony. He didn’t want all those agents around Peter. So, he ran inside despite his shaky legs to search for his pup.

“Peter.” Called Tony as he walked through the entire house. But Peter was nowhere to be found. Nor was Happy. 

“Peter? Peter where are you hiding pup?” shouted Tony as he walked through his living room. Peter was nowhere to be found.

“Peter!?” shouted Tony as he became frantic. He turned to Fury and walked right up to the man with anger in his eyes.

“Fury… where is my son?”

“Somewhere not here.”

“Fury… Where is he? WHERE IS MY SON FURY? YOU’D BETTER BRING HIM HERE RIGHT NOW OR I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Relax Stark. I sent him away with Hogan. It’s for your own good. You’re not getting near that pup until you sort this out.”

Tony didn’t even have time to react to that statement before Fury was walking to another part of the room where old boxes covered in Howard Stark’s moniker. Tony instantly hated where this was about to go. Howard was a perpetual thorn in his side. Howard was the reason Tony had so many problems. Howard was the reason he was currently being hunted by an angry Russian. The second Fury opened the boxes Tony started backing away but was quickly drawn back in by Agent Coulson who was hovering nearby.

“You do realize that Howard and I had a horrible relationship, right?” sighed Tony as an old notebook was forced into his hands, making him flinch. Tony hated being handed things because of Howard.

“I don’t care. I know deep down that that man really did love you.”

“So, you knew him better? I doubt it.” Huffed Tony.

“As a matter of fact, I did. I used to work with him.”

“So, you worked with him?” sassed Tony. “Well, you didn’t have to live with him. You didn’t have to be yelled at by him every day just for daring to be an Omega and not an Alpha. You didn’t have implements shoved into your hand by him so bad you got burned every other day. That man was a monster who made my life a living hell until he died. So, don’t tell me that he loved me.”

By the end of his little rant, Tony was fuming and Fury wasn’t much better.

“I don’t care about any of that Stark. You are going to sit here and find a cure for yourself and you’re going to fix things. You’re not getting your pup back until you’re under control.”

And with that Fury was out the door leaving a shocked Tony in his wake. He couldn’t do that, could he? No, he had no right to keep Tony from his pup. So, Tony threw the notebook on the ground and made to leave the room in search of his son. But he was quickly stopped by Coulson grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. 

“If you even think about leaving, you’re getting tased.”

And well, that statement made Tony panic. His heart, even with the reactor, was still quite weak between the shrapnel, poisoning, and frequent illnesses. If Tony got tased it would kill him. Tony didn’t want to test his luck with the taser. He had Peter to worry about. He just wished that he could see his pup before whatever was about to happen.

Tony trudged down to his lab where he was forced to sit down for hours on end looking through journals and old tapes of Howard Stark in an effort to keep himself from dying. At some point, Agent Agent brought him some food, but as the sun began to set Tony felt like he’d reached the end of his rope.

He was sitting there in an old chair looking through a journal that dated back to the 50s while watching Howard try and fail over and over again to record an intro to the original Stark Expo. As Tony watched the video he saw a tiny version of himself walk onto the screen and fiddle with the model behind Howard. Damn, he must have been about four-years-old in the video. He was so small. It reminded Tony of Peter when he was that little.

Unfortunately, little Tony got caught by Howard and instantly the yelling and hitting started. Every last little blow was caught on camera. 

“Piss off. Stupid useless Omega brat. Couldn’t even be born right. If I ever find Captain America, I’ll have him beat your ass.”

Even though Howard was long dead the words still hurt and the phantom blows still fell upon his skin.

It took a little while for Tony to calm himself down after watching that video. He was lucky that he was alone. He didn’t need any SHIELD agents watching him have a breakdown. He had tears in his eyes, his hands were shaking, and he was throwing things.

But, as Tony smashed a glass of water on the ground, he couldn’t help but stare down at it. It was moments like that that Tony was glad his brain worked the way it did. As Tony looked down at the tiny shards of glass, his brain began connecting the dots between the pieces.

Tony wasn’t expecting to have a Eureka moment while having a breakdown, but he wasn’t about to complain.

Instantly Tony began making a 3D model of his new element. Something that would save his life. JARVIS was there to help with renderings and making sure Tony had materials. Throughout the night Tony tore apart his lab in a bid to make a miniature particle accelerator. It was hard work and Tony felt himself exhausting easily and getting nose bleeds. But he soldiered on. He didn’t have a choice. 

At some point, Agent Coulson showed up once again and Tony had him help make sure everything was level. He used an old Captain America shield prototype of Howards. Coulson was scandalized whereas Tony didn’t care. He had some deep-seated resentment for the late Captain because of how Howard used to use the man as a threat.

By some fucking miracle Tony was able to synthesize a brand new element in his basement lab. He was absolutely going to write up a paper on this once he was better. This was a momentous discovery and Peter would no doubt be excited about it. Maybe he’d win a Nobel Prize for it. That would be nice. He’d always wanted to win one. 

Tony was quick to put the new reactor core in his chest. Should he have run tests on it to make sure it was safe? Yes. But he didn’t have the time. Just as Tony was preparing to actually make the new element he got word from Rhodey that Hammer had teamed up with that Vanko guy and the two were planning something. Apparently, Hammer had gotten the military contract that Tony used to have and the two had made some massive drones and Rhodey was worried that everything would go to shit. So, Tony hastily shoved his new reactor into his chest and hoped for the best. 

“Eugh, it tastes like coconut… and metal.”

Tony’s chest hurt like hell as he put on the suit and shot off for the expo. He had a sick feeling that people were going to get hurt and he had to stop it, his own pain be damned. He didn’t have time to be selfish about his pain and sickness. He didn’t have time or this would all be his fault.

Tony often hated the little Howard Stark that sat in his brain and said things like that.

Tony made record time in getting to the expo site. But he was still a little late. Hammer was already up on the stage doing his own little monkey dance with too much fan fair with drones all around him. Rhodey was there on his heels and Hammer stopped his fanatics with a frown. He wanted so badly to show he was better than Tony was but he’d chosen the wrong person to work with.

“We’re going to need you to step down Hammer.” Spoke Tony as Rhodey looked at all the drones.

“No way Stark. Don’t you see? This is the future! There’s no need for you and your stupid suit. Don’t you get it? I’ve won!” gloated Hammer and Tony frowned. Was this guy really that stupid?

“Um… Tony. We’ve got a problem.” Spoke Rhodey and Tony looked up. The drones had started moving and Tony had a good idea of who was controlling them.

“Um… That’s… that’s not supposed to happen.” Stuttered Hammer as the drones moved closer to Tony.

Tony instantly took to the skies with Rhodey. It was clear that Vanko was likely the one pulling the strings in an attempt to kill Tony and Tony knew that he didn’t care about the civilians below. Their best bet was to get the drones away from everybody while Pepper and Romanov took care of Hammer and his men below. Romanov patched herself into Tony and Rhodey’s coms units and was giving them helpful information once Hammer had been arrested. While Tony was still mad at her for everything He wasn’t going to say no to some extra help. 

Tony and Rhodey used whatever firepower they had as they took out drones from the air. It wasn’t easy as they were very quickly outnumbered. Luckily, Tony had some tricks up his sleeve. Once they were on solid ground Tony used a large beam from the arc reactor to take out the remaining drones that had surrounded them.

“You couldn’t have lead with that?” asked Rhodey as the drones fell around them.

“Sorry… It’s a one-off.” Sassed Tony and Rhodey smiled.

“Look out guys. There a large bogie coming in on your left.” Came Natasha’s voice and the two looked up at the sky.

Seconds later a large Iron Man-like suit descended from the sky. The helmet retracted revealing Vanko who was smiling with glee at the opportunity to try and kill Tony. He pulled out his electric whips and the fight began without much fanfare. 

The whips hit the water on the ground and the entire area became electrified. Tony was glad he built in a resistance to electricity into the suits. Tony and Rhodey were flung all over the place as they managed to land hits on Vanko. They tried in vain to keep out of reach of the whips but to no avail. In no time Tony was struggling with one around his neck while Rhodey had the same problem.

“Hey, Rhodey? Wanna be a hero?” yelled Tony and Rhodey answered in confusion.

“What?”

“I’ve got an idea! Put your hand up!” shouted Tony and Rhodey instantly got the message.

“Alright! I’m ready! Go! Go! Go!” shouted Rhodey and the two began charging up a repulsor blast that they aimed right at Vanko’s heart.

The blast was so massive that the glass around them broke and they were all thrown back. But the two finally found their footing. They saw Vanko laying on the ground, his suit destroyed and his breathing shallow. He looked close to death but he had a smile on his face.

“You lose.”

Seconds later a sea of red lights appeared in all of the destroyed drones. They started blinking and Tony instantly knew what was about to happen. 

“We gotta get to Pepper!” exclaimed Tony as he saw the lights begin to blink faster. It was only a matter of time before all the drones exploded. Romanov was doing her thing but Pepper was all on her own! 

He and Rhodey took off in a flurry. There was no time to waste and Tony didn’t want Pepper to get hurt. Tony flew as fast as he could while Rhodey scanned the area for civilians to get out of the way of the blasts. Tony saw Pepper at the front of the main pavilion to the expo. She was trying to run as the drones started to explode and Tony scooped her up just in time. They ended up landing on a roof with Rhodey close behind them. 

“What the hell was that!” shouted Pepper and Tony looked down at his feet.

“So Hammer’s an idiot and some guy named Vanko wanted to kill me because Howard did something to his dad. So… I don’t know.” Huffed Tony he’d had a long day and he just wanted to sleep. “Look can we deal with this later? I may not be dying anymore but I still feel quite sick.”

“You fixed it? You’re not dying anymore!” smiled Pepper and Tony nodded.

“I may need to fix up the lab because I wrecked it making a new element that won't poison me, but I’m all fixed. It’ll just take a while for all the metal to leave my system. I… I may need a break.”

Pepper nodded and hugged him. She was closely followed by Rhodey. They were glad that Tony wasn’t going to die on them any time soon. They went back to the hotel where Pepper was staying and promptly crashed. It had been a long day and they could deal with the media later. They all needed some rest. 

They were fine. Everyone was safe. The cluster fuck was finally over.

The next day before Tony even had a chance to go home, Tony was dragged off by Romanov to go talk to Fury. Tony didn’t want to talk to Fury. He wanted to go home and see his pup. But Tony had no choice. He didn’t want to mess with a professional assassin.

Tony was lead to a small warehouse that was inconspicuous in the outside but obviously a SHIELD base on the inside. There were screens everywhere and in the middle sat a table covered in files and paperwork. Tony took his seat and waited for Fury to show up. He wanted to snoop, especially when he saw the file with his name on it but didn’t. He’d learned that the hard way from Howard when he was just a pup himself.

“Stark, I’m glad you’ve joined me here.” Spoke Fury as he entered the room and took his seat.

“Well… it’s not like I had much of a choice.” Huffed Tony as he looked Fury in the eye. “So what the hell do you want?”

“What I want is for you to behave.”

“What? Like a good little Omega. Never leave my house and stay with Peter all the time? Well, I’ve got news for you Fury. I’m a single parent with a full-time job. My mate probably doesn’t even know that Peter exists. It’s just me and I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure that Peter has everything he could ever want. So why am I here? I don’t have all day.”

“Well, I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative. But, considering what’s happened over the last month I’m not even sure you should know about this.” Started Fury and Tony looked the man over.

“You mentioned that before. Why should I care?” asked Tony. He was really tired and wanted to go home. 

“Well, originally we wanted you on the team, but as of late were not sure. Romanov doesn’t seem to trust you. We sent her out to profile you and you’re a wild card.”

“Wait, so you sent an assassin who I’m guessing isn’t a trained psychologist to do a profile on me while I was actively dying? That’s not fair. And let me guess. She doesn’t like that I’m a mated Omega with no mate in sight. None of this seems fair.” Snarked Tony and Fury just stared back at him.

“Whether you like it or not you have a small position on this team. You’re needed Stark, and we will get our usage out of you.” Snapped Fury and Tony’s heart plummeted. Fury had known him as a pup, why was he being such an ass to him right now? Tony didn’t get it.

After a moment of silence Fury pushed the file with Tony’s name on it across the table so that Tony could take it and read it. Tony looked over the file for a moment before he opened it. He skimmed over the top information before he got to the meat of it. “Erratic”, “Self Centred”, Egotistical”, and Narcissistic” appeared all over the page with Romanov’s assessment of him. Tony had a lot of problems with that. Erratic, sure. Tony liked to be spontaneous but he was also dying when this was written. But Self Centred, Egotistical, and Narcissistic? No. Tony put on an act for the press sure, but his friends and family always came first. Even before himself. Tony had many masks to put forward to the world. He’d learned from a young age to hide who he really was because nobody would ever believe him. Only those he truly trusted got to see the real Tony Stark. 

And then there was Romanov’s and SHIELD’s final assessment of him. The assessment that would fuck up some of Tony’s relationships permanently. There on the paper sat the seven words that would influence some very important people when it came to Tony. He just didn’t know it at the time.

Iron Man: Yes.

Tony Stark: Not Recommended.

Those words hurt. Tony was so much more than the suit. He was more than a walking bank account for SHIELD. He was his own fucking person. He’d had enough of being treated like shit by others. He’d had enough of being the scapegoat. He’d had enough of being seen as less than because he was an Omega. SHIELD had already screwed him over a few times.

Tony Stark had had enough.

“You can’t afford me.”

Tony didn’t look back as he left the room. He was done with all this bull shit. All he wanted to do was see his pup and crash for a few days. It would be a long road to recovery from the poisoning and Tony needed a break. It was almost summer break for Peter so it would be nice to spend the time with his pup. Tony didn’t care if the media said anything. He was taking time off to heal for once. He needed it.

Once Tony got home he was greeted by Peter running up to him. He hadn’t seen his Mamma in a few days because the people in suits said he couldn’t. He’d been scared and was so happy to see his Mamma again.

Tony kept Peter close to him the entire day. They made lunch and dinner together and worked down in the lab. Tony showed Peter his new element and as he expected, his pup was over the moon excited about it. He wanted to know everything. 

That night found the two sitting in Tony’s room watching a movie together. Peter was curled up in Tony’s arms similar to the way he used to lay when he was still an infant. Tony smiled as his pup watch the movie on the TV across the room. He looked so happy to be back with Tony. So safe and content. And that was when Tony had an idea. He liked seeing his pup safe, so maybe it was time to find somewhere safer for them. Someplace without the taint of Stane and all the other trauma they’d both endured living in Malibu. Plus, maybe Tony was feeling a little homesick for his birth city. Tony had been born and raised in New York. Going through everything as of late had made him miss his mom and JARVIS. He’d like to be closer to where they were both laid to rest. 

“How about we move to New York. A new start. No more memories of Stane lingering around. We can find you a new science school. I’ll be able to focus more on clean energy. What do you say pup? Should we move?” asked Tony as Peter curled in closer.

“Can we get pizza there?” asked Peter and Tony nodded. “Ok. We can move.”

It would be a few years before their new home in Stark Tower was finished and ready for them to move it, but both were happy to get away from Malibu for a while. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Wasn’t that a lot of shit going down! So, what did y’all think? Was it good? I tried to include as much as possible while trying to stick with what I had already said about this world in Second Times the Charm. This one took a while to write but I’m proud of it. Also, as you can clearly see, I’m not giving Howard Stark credit for the element. He doesn’t deserve it. I hope y’all liked it. Drop a comment if you feel inclined. I’ll see everyone soon -Shadows


	5. Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s that time again! Time for a new chapter. This one follows the events of the Avengers. So get ready for angst, and Steve being a bit of an idiot. If you’ve read Second times the Charm (which you should have if you’re reading this) then you know where this is going. I hope you enjoy! I’ll see you at the end. Also HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
> 
> Ps. I’m hard on Steve in this chapter. When you get to the scene you’ll know what’s up. The mind stone is a bitch. 

It was early spring of 2012 when Tony and Peter finally got to move into the brand new Stark Tower in New York. Peter was excited to move and have a fresh start. Maybe this time he’d make friends once he started at his new school in the fall. Because it was only a few short months until summer vacation Tony was finishing Peter’s school year by homeschooling him.

The tower was almost complete when Tony and Peter moved into the penthouse suite. The rooms were finished and decorated other than a few small things. Tony’s lab needed to be set up still and Peter wanted to do up his room himself. There was also the matter of the massive arc reactor Tony had built to power the place. He was hoping to use it as a test run for a new kind of clean energy. If the tower remained self-sustaining then he could use the large arc reactors to help power rural areas and areas without power before moving on to using them to power larger city areas. Well, that’s if he could get governments to agree to it.

But first, he had to plug it in.

Getting the damn thing connected to the tower meant that tony had to go into the river below and make sure all the underwater components were connected the way they were supposed to. Tony did not like water. He used to, but not since he was kidnapped.

But Tony really had no choice but to suck it up and hold his shakiness and fears until Peter had gone to bed. Tony didn’t like his pup seeing him like that. Tony really needed therapy. Sure, he’d managed to get some since his kidnapping but the whole thing with SHIELD breathing down his neck even after they’d said he wasn’t an Avengers had really stalled things out. Hopefully, he’d be able to get some more soon.

“How’s it looking over there Pete?” asked Tony over the connection he had to JARVIS.

“Pepper said it’s holding steady and I think it looks good.”

“Alright. Let’s get this party started.” Smiled Tony as he flew back to the now lit up tower.

Once Tony landed though, his plans for a happy evening of celebration with Pepper and his pup went out the window.

“Sir, Agent Coulson is on the line.” Spoke JARVIS as the suit disassembled.

“Nope. Not today. Tell him I’m out.” Said Tony as he walked inside and we met with an armful of Peter.

Tony and Pepper talked about some of the logistics involved with everything once Tony was inside. But they didn’t get to talk for long before Coulson was calling again.

“You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. I don’t have time for you so please don’t leave a message.” Spoke Tony into his phone. Peter smiled at him and laughed around the cupcake he’d been given as a treat.

“No can do Stark.” Said a voice from the elevator. Everyone turned around to see Agent Phil Coulson walking out into the penthouse.

“Security breach!” shouted Peter and both adults there got up.

“Phil. Welcome. Come in.” smiled Pepper and Tony felt like punching something.

“Phil? His first name is Agent.”

Tony didn’t pay much attention to the whole exchange. He was being called into work with the Avengers because of an intergalactic emergency and he had loads of reading and research to do before he set out in the morning. Tony did have to deal with Agent Coulson trying to hand him the digital files but luckily Pepper took them for him.

Soon enough Tony was going through the files while Pepper and Coulson took off. There was a lot of information to go over and Tony was happy that Peter managed to keep himself entertained with a new math book he’d gotten him. 

As Tony shifted through all the information he noticed a very peculiar file. One with a name he hadn’t thought about in years. One with a name that brought up so many negative emotions because of Howard Stark. The name on the file? Steven Grant Rogers/Captain America.

“Oh shit!”

“That’s a bad word, Mom.”

Tony just shot his pup a look before the pup in question ran over to his mamma’s side.

“Pete, I need to go do a lot of really important Iron Man work for a few days. Do you think you’ll be alright with Happy?” asked Tony as he knelt down to look at his son.

“I’ll be fine. Just promise you’ll come back. Last time you left you didn’t come back for three months.”

“I promise pup. I promise.”

Tony spent some time with Peter munching on the snacks he’d put out for their little celebration that got cut short by Coulson. He made sure Peter was happy before he made sure that the pup was snug in his bed. Tony smiled at him as he closed Peter’s bedroom door. He really hoped that this tesseract thing wasn’t going to be a huge problem.

Tony spent the entire night reading the files and doing any supplemental research that he needed. He wanted to understand Selvig’s notes better. He got no sleep that night and was flying off to Germany not long after Peter work up to start his day. He said goodbye to his pup and wished Happy good luck before he jumped off of the tower and took off.

When Tony arrived in Germany Romanov and the good Captain who was very much alive were already on the scene trying to subdue Loki but without much success. So of course Tony came in with music blaring and mini-missiles at the ready. He subdued Loki in seconds and he was pretty proud of himself. 

“Make your move Reindeer Games.”

Loki instantly put his hands up but Tony kept his weapons trained on the god. He almost didn’t Captain America walking over to him.

“Mr. Stark.”

“Captain.”

There wasn’t a lot of talking as Romanov landed her jet and they to heroes shoved Loki into handcuffs and onto the jet. They took off and flew back to the main SHIELD carrier in silence for about an hour before Rogers spoke up. Before that, everything was just awkward and the air was heavy.

“I don’t like it.”

“What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?”

“I don’t remember it ever being this easy. And I’ve certainly never seen an Alpha submit to an Omega.” Spoke Rogers and Tony had to fight back every instinct in his body not to punch him.

“Well, times have changed while you were doing time as a capcicle. Omegas can do everything an Alpha can.” Countered Tony. He really hoped that the Captain didn’t share Howard Stark’s ani-Omega rhetoric. 

“Fury didn’t say that he was bringing you in,” spoke Rogers, dodging what Tony had just said. Tony just knew he was in for a load of Alpha posturing.

“Fury doesn’t tell people a lot of things.” Said Tony as he thought back to the multiple times Fury broke into his house.

Just then the sky lit up with large bolts of lightning and the jet shook. Tony had to grasp around to keep his footing. 

“What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?” joked Rogers as they saw Loki wincing.

“I’m not overly fond of what follows.”

Tony hadn’t been expecting to be fighting more than one god that day, but when Loki’s brother Thor showed up and stole Loki from the jet, Tony knew he had to intervene. So, with a little quip and a look of disapproval from Rogers, Tony flew off after them. He wasn’t going to risk them losing Loki and the information he had. He just wanted to get this bullshit over with so he could go back home to Peter. 

Tony very quickly figured out that fighting a god wasn’t fun. Although he was glad he added in loads of electricity protection into the suit after that whole shit show with Vanko. It certainly made things easier. Although eventually Rogers landed and stopped the whole thing. And, by some miracle that managed to convince Thor to allow them to bring Loki back to the carrier.

The rest of the flight back was very tense. 

The second they landed on the carrier Tony went off to go remove his suit. He didn’t need to be wearing it while just walking around the carrier and possibly working in the lab. So, Tony stripped off the suit and put it away in a special case that Fury had made for it that was only keyed into Tony himself. 

Once Tony had divested himself of the suit, he began to make his way down to the main bridge of the carrier. Fury had told him that that was where everyone was supposed to meet up. So, Tony made his way there and met up with Agent Coulson along the way. They two didn’t do much other than share pleasantries before Tony heard Dr. Bruce Banner asking about why Selvig needed Iridium. And wasn’t that fun. Tony had a bit of a science crush on Bruce Banner for years. A fellow Omega who had broken into the scientific field. A genius like himself. He just knew they were going to get on great.

“It’s a stabilizing agent. It means that the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD.” Spoke Tony as he walked into the room. Everyone’s eyes instantly turned to Tony so he kept talking. He wanted to make a good impression on Bruce. “Also it means that the portal can stay open as wide or as long as Loki wants it to.”

Tony continued to walk onto the bridge, all the whole prattling on about this and that in an effort to keep everyone distracted from his real task. Tony was seeding the carrier with little access points so that he could hack into SHEILD’s servers. He didn’t trust them. Everything about this situation was off and Tony wanted to get to the bottom of it so that he could go home.

“That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” 

Everyone looked around the room at the man in question and Tony took that opportunity to stick an access point right at Fury’s main computer set up.

“Most of the other raw components Barton can get his hands on easily. The only other thing he’s missing is a power source of a high-energy-density. Something to kickstart the cube.”

“When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?” deadpanned Agent Hill and Tony just stared back at her.

“…Last night”

“The briefing packets? Selvig's notes? Am I the only one who did the reading?”

“Does Loki need and particular kind of power source?” interrupted Rogers and Tony looked a bit miffed.

“He’d have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break the Coulomb barrier.” Spoke Dr. Banner and Tony smiled at him. 

“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect.”

“If he has be can achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet!”

“Finally, someone who speaks English.”

“Is that what that is.” Sighed Rogers and Tony just shrugged. 

“Dr. Banner. A pleasure to meet you. My son and I are huge fans of your work. And also how you turn into a giant green rage monster. But mostly your work. It’s great for Peter to have another Omega scientist to look up to.” 

“Thanks.”

At the admission that Tony had a pup, Rogers looked over at Tony with a strange look in his eyes. Tony couldn’t quite figure out what it was. It was like a cross between criticism and anger. Tony wasn’t sure. And he didn’t have the time to figure it out before Fury came into the room and started barking orders. 

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.”

“Let’s start with that stick of Loki’s. I don’t know what it is but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.” Added Rogers and Tony nodded along. He’d seen that too.

Tony was soon instructed to go off with Dr. Banner so that they could work in the lab together to figure out where the cube was. Tony had absolutely no reason to disobey that order. He was extremely excited to work with Banner. He wasn’t going to pass this opportunity up.

The two worked amazing together. Just two Omega’s doing advanced science. It was a dream come true. And once the two got to talking, they found that they had even more in common than they thought. Tony was absolutely going to invite Bruce to stay with him and Peter at the tower once this was all over.

The two shared some trauma when it came to trusting the wrong people and shit hitting the fan. Tony assured Bruce that he was more than just the Hulk and that he wasn’t scared of his jolly green alter ego. In turn, Bruce offered to help Tony figure out a way to manage the pain he experienced daily from the arc reactor.

The two worked well together and after about two hours they got a moment to just sit back and snack for a little while. They were waiting for the tracking software they had made to find the cube to lock on but it would take about an hour to finish so they took the opportunity for a break.

Or they would have if Captain Righteous hadn’t walked in to interrupt them. 

“What the hell are you doing?” snapped Rogers as he saw Tony and Bruce sitting at a screen eating some blueberries.

“We’re waiting for the program to finish loading in and letting it sweep for the cube. Not much we can do while that’s going.” Supplied Tony and Rogers looked him over with a scowl.

“You need to focus on the problem.” Snapped Rogers. He obviously didn’t understand what Tony and Bruce were doing.

“You think I’m not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t figure out the solution without all the variables.”

“You think Fury’s hiding something?”

“He’s a spy. He’s THE spy. His secrets have secrets. This is the man who broke into my house and forced me away from my own kid. I don’t trust him.” Seethed Tony. He was still furious at Fury for forcing him away from Peter.

To Tony’s surprise, both Bruce and Rogers looked concerned with that statement.

“Look, Steve. Fury’s all kinds of fishy, especially with that cube. On the outside, it looks like a clean energy project but it’s got to be much more than that if Loki is after it. Why keep it all secret? Why not call in Tony?” pondered Bruce and Tony spoke up to add in some information for the confused captain.

“I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now.”

“So why didn’t SHIELD call you in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the clean energy business in the first place.”

“Good question. And furthermore, why didn’t they bring me in period. Howard was the one in charge of the original Project Pegasus back in the ’80s before he died. Why leave me? I should probably look into that once my decryption program finished going through all of SHIELD’s files. Once it’s done I’ll know every dirty little secret that they’re trying to hide from us.”

As Tony talked and walked around the room he failed to realize that the collar of his shirt had shifted ever so slightly, just enough for Tony’s bonding bite to reveal itself to the room. Everyone in the room seemed to notice the bonding mark and any retort on Tony’s behaviour that Rogers had, died in his throat the second he saw the bite. 

“You’re mated?” asked Rogers and Tony instantly felt bristly. 

“…I am.”

“Well, where are they? Shouldn’t they be here?” asked Rogers and Tony wanted once again to punch him.

“First of all my mate hasn’t been in the picture since we bonded nearly 12 years ago. Second I don’t need an Alpha watching over me to make sure I behave like a “good little Omega”!” 

“What do you mean they’re not in the picture?” shouted back Steve who was growing even more confused over the situation.

“I mean that my mate, my TRUE mate, bonded with me and then left the second my heat was over. And because I was in heat I hardly remember anything about him other than his name is James and he’s not here. So keep your opinions on this all to yourself. I’ve been fine on my own. Peter and I have been fine on our own. We don’t need some Alpha butting in!” shouted back Tony. He instantly regretted the oversharing but it didn’t matter. He was pissed at all the questions and he wanted this shit show to be over with. 

The room was tense and smelt thick with both anger and fear. Thankfully, Rogers took that as his cue and left the room with a huff.

“Just find the damn cube!”

Once Rogers left Tony found himself able to breathe without the stifling scent of a pissed-off Alpha in the room. Bruce felt the same and the two Omegas took a moment to just decompress after that shitshow that had just occurred. 

“That’s the Alpha Howard always compared me to? Maybe they should have kept him on ice.”

Tony and Bruce worked on a few little things while they waited now that their little break had been interrupted. Tony wasn’t feeling too great after the confrontation with Rogers so he and Bruce worked in comfortable silence. Although Tony did invite Bruce to stay with him and Peter at Stark Tower once all this was over. Bruce graciously accepted.

Everything seemed to be going alright after Rogers left, well until Fury came into the lab with a huff.

“What are you doing Stark?” snapped Fury as he saw Ton and Bruce sitting by a screen.

“Uh, kinda be wondering the same thing about you.” Smirked Tony and Fury rebutted. 

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.”

“And we are. The model is locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit we’ll let you know.” Added Bruce and Tony quickly threw in his two cents. 

“You’ll get your cube back. The faster we do that, the faster I can get back home. No doubt that Peter’s on some sort of sugar high right now that Happy inflicted upon himself. But I do have one question for you Fury. What’s Phase 2?”

“Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons.” Interrupted Rogers as he entered the room with a large bazooka shaped weapon in his hands that he quickly slammed down on one of the tables. “Sorry, the computer was moving a little too slow for my taste.”

And that was when the arguing started. The eternal back and forth between the three heroes and Fury on whether or not the cube should be used in the same way that HYDRA had used it all those years ago. Romanov and Thor eventually entered the fray and very quickly tempers started to fly. There was shouting. So much shouting. Tony was feeling a complete lack of control over the situation. He was absolutely feeling too emotional over everything but he had no way for trying to actually deal with it when he was cornered by the man his own father loved more than him.

And then there were the jabs that everyone but Bruce seemed to be making at him. Everyone there seemed to forget that Tony had inherited Howard Stark’s work. He was forced into weapons manufacturing from the time he was only 7 years old. Tony had tried to get out of the weapons game for years. Especially once Peter was born. It didn’t matter if he was good at it and it helped him make the Iron Man suit, weapon always brought trouble. Case in point, the problem they were all currently facing with Loki.

But Tony was sick and tired of becoming a punching bag for idiots and abusers. So, he was more than ready to fight back. 

“Big Omega in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?” seethed Rogers and Tony was quick with a comeback.

“Genius, Billionaire, Mother, Philanthropist.” 

“I know Alpha’s who are none of that, worth 10 of you. I’ve seen the footage. The only one you fight for is yourself.”

And that was when Tony lost it.

“Oh, you sexist prick. You really gonna play the “Alphas are more superior than Omegas” card? Are you really going to start this? Well, I’ve got news for you Rogers. You’re nothing special just because you’re an Alpha. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. I’ve fought through things you wouldn’t even dare to imagine just because I’m an Omega. I’ve worked hard to be respected because I’m an Omega. And you? A born and bred Alpha who just so happens to be jacked up on steroids? You’re nothing to me. Howard was wrong about you. You’re just like him.

And as for your comment on footage? What fucking footage? Is it footage from the 90s when I was still young and grieving the death of my mother while being gaslit by my godfather? I can’t be anything from the last decade because I’ve had Peter there with me. So get your head out of your ass Rogers. You know nothing about me.” Seethed Tony. He was absolutely fed up with all of this bullshit.

And that should have been the end of it, but then Rogers had to go and open his mouth. 

“Oh, I think I do. That file of yours told me everything I needed to know about you. You’re nothing but a weak Omega, Stark. Nothing but a bitch who could never be a hero. And hey, maybe if you were better your mate wouldn’t have left you!” 

What Rogers had said had just crossed every last line in the book of lines you don’t cross.

“Are you fucking kidding me! Please tell me you are. You just crossed the line, Rogers. I’ll make sure you pay for that.” Snapped Tony.

Before Rogers could get in a retort a loud beeping noise began to emit from one of the computers in the lab. That could only mean one thing. They’d found the cube. Tony instantly rushed over to check the screen but before he could look at the coordinates for the cube, the room exploded into flames as the carrier was rocked by explosions. Tony saw Bruce, Thor, and Romanov fall down as the floor beneath them collapsed. Tony was lucky and Rogers caught him before he could fall.

Seconds later they were both running down the hall while on their way to get Tony’s suit. Over the coms system, Agent Hill let everyone know that engine number three was blocked and needed external repair. 

“Stark, you got that?” shouted Fury over the intercom and Tony let him know that he did

Quickly he and Rogers made their way to the weapons hanger and Tony donned his suit. A moment later Tony found himself repairing the broken turbine. Let’s just say that almost being shredded to death by giant blades wasn’t on Tony’s to-do list for the day.

Although, even with the carrier now functioning again, this didn’t get better. Loki had escaped, Bruce and Thor were gone, and Agent Coulson was dead. Honestly, Tony felt horrible. The last 24 hours had been a complete clusterfuck of bad shit happening and Tony was done. He was just done and he wanted to get this over with so he could go home and nap. He hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, although, with all the time zones changes Tony had gone through over the last day, Tony wasn’t entirely sure what time it was anymore. So, tired and fed up with everything, Tony didn’t stick around to listen to Fury’s little speech that he was giving to him and Rogers on the bridge of the ship. 

Tony found himself sitting on the floor in the room where Coulson died. He wasn’t sure why he chose that room, but he did, and Tony sat there in silence thinking over everything that had happened over the past 24 hours. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like any of this. People were dying and Tony didn’t know what to do. So, he sat there and hoped that this would all end soon so that he could go back to Peter.

Tony didn’t know when Rogers had entered the room with him and sat down nearby, but when Tony looked up the Alpha was there and wanting to talk.

“Did he have a family?” asked Steve in reference to Coulson.

“I don’t know. I think he had a girlfriend and Peter sure didn’t have any problems with him.”

“He seemed like a good man.”

“He was. But he was also an idiot.” Replied Tony and Rogers glared at him.

“How so?”

“He took on Loki alone. He should have waited.” Grumbled Tony as he stood up and Rogers followed.

“Well, sometimes there isn’t a way out.”

“Yeah right.” Scoffed Tony and Rogers continued to glare at him.

“Is this the first time you’ve lost a soldier?”

“We are NOT soldiers! I’m not marching to Fury’s fife.” Growled Tony although it was only the weak little growls that Omegas could make. Nothing compared to an Alpha’s.

“Well neither am I. Fury has the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now We’ve got to put that behind us and get this done.”

“Don’t you think I know that! I want this over with as much as you do. I want to go back home to my pup so that we can finish his new little science project. I don’t want to be dealing with a homicidal god who seems hell-bent on world domination.”

“Should an Omega like you even be playing at the hero game?” grumbled Rogers and Tony barely held back from punching him.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, you’ve got a pup at home. Shouldn’t you be with them seeing as you don’t have a mate around?”

“Look Rogers,” snarled Tony as he turned to stare down the Alpha, “I know that you grew up in a different time but your words don’t hold here. Omegas are just the same as Alphas. Just because we don’t have a knot doesn’t mean that we’re inferior to you and relegated to the home. Do I want to be back with Peter, yes, but I became Iron Man for Peter. You know nothing about me Rogers so just shut the fuck up.”

Tony was surprised that Rogers back off a little bit by the end of his rant. He wasn’t going to question it though.

“Fine. Let’s just get this over with. Let’s start off with what Loki wants. He’s causing an awful lot of trouble, why?” asked Rogers as he moved around a bit.

Tony himself looked around the room and thought about the day’s events. As his eyes looked over at the blood on the walls and floor where Coulson had died, suddenly a lot of things made sense. 

“He made it personal.” Said Tony and Rogers looked confused. 

“What?”

“Loki, he made it personal. He hit us all where we live by killing someone we all knew. Why?”

“Well, He’s a diva. Obviously, a showman.”

“Yeah, so what does he want? He wants his name in lights, his 15-minutes of fame. He wants a monument to the heavens. He wants…” 

And that was when it hit Tony. He knew exactly where Loki was going.

“SHIT! FUCK! OH FUCK!” shouted Tony as he began to panic.

“What?”

Asked Rogers as he picked up on Tony’s worried scent.

“Loki needs a self-sustaining energy source. He’s going to use my tower! Peter is there. I need to get there!”

Tony didn’t even give Rogers a moment to respond before he was running out of the room to go fix up his suit a bit. All he did was give Cap some coordinates before he was taking off with Cap, Romanov, and some archer names Clint Barton tailing after him in a jet. As Tony flew, he had JARVIS send a message to Happy to get out of there. Happy quickly fire back and let Tony know that he couldn’t so he’d taken Peter to Tony’s lab and put it on full lockdown.

That just spurred Tony into getting back to the tower faster.

As Tony landed on the landing pad he could see Loki standing inside of his living room and Tony knew it was go time. He had to get rid of this maniac before he hurt Peter. So, Tony had JARVIS take off his old and battered suit and prepare a new one as he made his way inside to where Loki was clearly waiting for him.

“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity.” Spoke Loki and Tony stared him down.

“Actually, I’m here to threaten you.” 

“You should have left your armour on for that.”

“Yeah, but it’s seen a bit of milage. Plus, I don’t need the armour to beat you.”

“Oh, looks like the little Omega has some bite.” Smiled Loki and Tony glared daggers back. He’d had enough of Alphas being jerks for one day.

“Jesus, another one. How many pretentious Alphas am I going to have to deal with today?” griped Tony and Loki had the gall to smile at him. 

“Would you like a drink? I’m having one.” Asked Tony even though he wanted to pitch Loki off of the side of the tower to get rid of him. He had a plan and it had to be executed. So, as Tony poured himself some ginger ale, he put on some special homing bracelets that he’d developed for the suit so that way when he needed it, JARVIS could send him a new one. 

“Stalling me won't change the outcome.” Spoke Loki and Tony looked up at him.

“No, I’m threatening you.”

“The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?”

“The Avengers. Sort of an Earth's Mightiest Heroes type of deal. Sure it takes us a while to get any traction but let's do a headcount here. Your bother, the demigod. A Super Solider, a living legend. An Omega with breathtaking anger issues who won't take any of your bullshit, and a couple of master assassins. And well, you’ve managed to piss off every one of us.” Said Tony as he stepped closer to the god. He wasn’t going to let his fear and stress over the situation control him. 

“That was the plan.”

“Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they’ll come for you.”

“I have an army.”

“We have a hulk!”

“I thought the beast had wandered off.”

“You’re missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. So maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us but I can assure you, if we can’t defend the Earth then you can be damn well assured that we’ll avenge it.”

“How will your friend have tome for me when they’re so busy fighting you?”

As Loki said that, he touched the tip of his mind control sceptre to Tony’s arc reactor. Tony waited with bated breath for something to happen. But nothing did. Loki tried again and was met with the same outcome.

“That’s odd. Usually this works.”

“Well, performance issues. You know, not uncommon among knot head Alphas.” Quipped Tony.

This would turn out to be a mistake as Loki grabbed Tony by the neck and proceeded to throw him out of the window. Luckily, JARVIS got a suit to Tony in time and he didn’t fall to his death. Tony flew back up to the top of the tower and hit Loki with a strong blast.

Unfortunately, that was when the cube activated and a portal opened up over the tower.

The entire time Tony was fighting, he was fighting for Peter. He and JARVIS relayed as much information as possible to the other Avengers who had joined in the fight. Any help he could provide while also doing his own work was welcome from the other Avengers. But soon, the team found themselves overwhelmed. It was impossible not to. They were in the middle of an alien invasion and the hits just kept on coming.

“Stark! We’ve got a nuke incoming. Detonation in three minutes!” shouted Fury through the coms link that Tony had set up.

And Tony knew what he needed to do.

As Tony flew towards the nuke he only had one thought running through his head. He had to keep Peter safe. He had to keep him safe even if it meant giving up his own life. Maybe death wouldn’t be so bad. He shouted at Romanov not to close the portal until he put the nuke through it. Sure, Rogers yelled at him but he didn’t care. This was for Peter.

“Sir, would you like to record a message for Master Peter?” asked JARVIS and Tony nodded as the recording started.

“Hi, Peter. I just want you to know that Mamma loves you. I will always love you. Remember that pup. Remember that I never wanted to leave you. Remember that you are loved and I will always be watching over you. I love you, Pete. I love you.”

Tony cried as he carried the nuke through the portal and his connection to JARVIS was severed. He looked out of the eye holes in his suit and saw the alien armada ready to attack. He threw the nuke at one of the ships and watched as it exploded. Tony could feel the blast from where he was and he felt it right in his chest. Tony’s breath was stolen away as he closed his eyes and started to fall. He hoped that this worked. He needed Peter to be safe.

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Tony was woken up by a great roar from the Hulk. His eyes snapped open as Tony startled awake. His chest hurt like a bitch but Tony didn’t care. He was alive and Cap, Thor, and Hulk were around him and smiling.

“We won.” Smiled Rogers and Tony sighed in relief.

“We did it. Yay! I say we take like a week off. Yeah. That sounds good. I gotta… I gotta go check on Peter. And get a snack. Yeah. I need a snack.” Rambled Tony as he struggled to his feet. Rogers helped him up and Tony didn’t have it in himself to complain.

On the way back to the tower, they picked up Clint and made their way there. Natasha was already waiting and had her gun trained on Loki who had been smashed into the ground. The god looked up at the gathered Avengers and sighed.

“I think I’ll have that drink now.”

Tony went to remove his suit as Thor cuffed and muzzled Loki. But, the second Tony had his suit off and was back in the main living room with the other Avengers he heard some little feet running towards him.

“Mamma!” shouted Peter as he launched himself into Tony’s arms.

Tony fell to his knees with his pup in his arms as he kissed over Peter’s face. 

“Peter! Oh god, Peter!” cried Tony as he held his pup close. He didn’t care that the others were watching. He was just glad that he was back with his pup and that Peter was alright.

“I was so scared Mamma.”

“I know bub. I know. But you’re alright. You’re ok.” Soothed Tony as he stood up with Peter in his arms.

He looked over at Steve who was staring at Peter with some sort of emotion in his eyes but Tony was too tired to try and understand it. 

“I was wrong about you Stark. I’m… I’m glad you got back to your pup.” Spoke Steve after a moment of awkward silence.

“Mamma? Who’s that?” asked Peter from his perch in Tony’s arms.

“That’s Captain Steve Rogers. He helped me fight all the aliens today.” Explained Tony and Peter nodded.

“Thank you for helping my Mamma, Captain Rogers.” Spoke Peter and Steve smiled back at him.

Not long after that exchange, some SHIELD agents came to collect Loki’s sceptre. Tony kept Peter in his arms the entire time they were getting things done. Peter even came with them all to get lunch as Tony gave Happy some time off after everything that had happened. His friend earned it.

The next day, Thor and Loki went back to Asgard and the Avengers went their separate ways for now. Romanov and Clint went back to SHIELD, Cap decided to take some time to explore the country and learn new things, and Bruce decided to take Tony up on his offer to live at the tower for a bit. But that might have been because of Peter’s puppy eyes. Nobody could say no to Peter. 

And so, things settled back down for a little bit. Tony got the tower fixed up and he also helped in rebuilding the parts of the city that had gotten damaged during the invasion. He helped fund an organization of specialists to help clean up all the alien tech. It was too dangerous for normal cleaning crews and he didn’t want more people getting hurt. So, really, things were sort of back to normal. Peter was happy. Bruce was happy. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were safe. Things were alright in Tony’s book.

And then the nightmares started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He lives! I hope you all liked this chapter. I know I’m being a bit rough on Cap, but It works here if you remember anything from Second Times the Charm. Well, get ready. Next chapter is going to cover two movies again although I’ll try to cut things out. Mostly Ultron. I’ll stick to what I’m going to make different. We already know what the scarlet bitch does. I’d rather focus on Tony’s reaction to things. Well, I’ll see you soon. -Shadows 


	6. Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here they guys! It’s time for a new chapter. This is another long one spanning 2 movies with my own twists involved. Just a reminder for those who haven’t the other fic in this series, this fic isn’t really Wanda friendly. In my opinion, she makes a better villain than a hero. So, buckle in here. We’re in for a long chapter. I’ll see you at the end. 

The nightmares just didn’t stop. They didn’t stop and Tony was absolutely exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep and he just couldn’t. Every time Tony closed his eyes he was assaulted with images of the battle, his nasty childhood, and Peter dying. He just couldn’t sleep and Tony was reaching his breaking point.

Tony made an overabundance of Iron Man suits in an effort to find some sort of protection for him and Peter. He became obsessive over them. Like a climber trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 

It had been months since the battle against Loki and his army and Tony didn’t know how much longer he could keep holding out. His friends were worried about him and his behaviour and Peter had walked in on his having a panic attack one afternoon after he got home from school. Tony was so messed up from everything that he even found it hard to get into the Christmas spirit for Peter. Tony felt bad about that and was in the process of trying to get some help but then shit had to go and hit the fan.

Tony just wanted something to go right for once. 

Tony had thought he’d destroyed all of the Ten Rings. He was wrong. As Tony sat in his lab one afternoon JARVIS had alerted him to an incoming news report that seemed extremely important. Tony had JARVIS turn it on and the poor Omega had a panic attack just watching it.

Tony managed to call Pepper after he’d calmed down and had a small nap. This was big and it needed to be dealt with. Pepper, however, was a little late coming to the phone. Happy was the one who answered his own phone and filled Tony in on what was going on. Apparently, some Alpha douche named Killian was at the SI California office and was hitting on Pepper all the while talking about weapon ideas. Of course, Pepper refused his business proposal but the guy was very sketchy.

It seemed strange that on the same day there was an attack by the Ten Rings and a weapons start-up approaching Pepper at the same time. It was odd. Tony didn’t like it. So, he filled Happy and Pepper in on the situation and begged them both to be careful.

That night, Rhodey came by to visit. Peter and Rhodey played for a bit before the pup went off to finish some homework, leaving Tony and Rhodey alone to talk.

“Tones, you look dead on your feet. What’s going on? Is it the whole Mandarin situation?” asked Rhodey as the two sat down to munch on some snacks.

“Yeah… I just… I thought they were gone. I thought I got rid of them. I thought this was over. And now I just know they’re going to go after me.” Sighed Tony as he began to ramble.

And Rhodey listened. He listened and offered an ear because he knew Tony needed it. He even offered some jokes when he knew Tony needed them. He knew that Tony hated the fact that the Air Force had rebranded War Machine as Iron Patriot. 

Rhodey left that night after naming sure that Tony wasn’t going to have a major panic attack as he’d had in the past.

Two days later whit hit the fan. While back in California, Happy had taken it upon himself to do some looking into this Killian guy. While doing so, Happy had become a victim of one of the Mandarin’s attacks. Now he was in the hospital in the ICU and Pepper was frantically calling Tony with the news.

Naturally, Tony panicked at the news before he became extremely angry. Happy was his friend. They’d know each other for years. He was part of his pack. And now? Now he was hurt. Tony knew what he needed to do. He had to go to California and figure this shit out and make sure that Happy was ok. But he knew he couldn’t bring Peter with him. It just wasn’t safe. So Tony called up Peter’s friend Ned’s mom. Tony had met Shauna Leeds quite a few times as Ned and Peter grew closer and closer and had so many sleepovers. He trusted Shauna to look out for his pup. 

“Hi, Shauna. It’s Tony. Um… there’s been a bit of an emergency and I was wondering if you could watch Peter for a few days. A family friend has been hurt pretty bad and I don’t want Peter to get mixed up in whatever is going on.” Spoke Tony once Mrs. Leeds picked up the phone.

“Of course Tony. Just drop him off when you’re ready. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

When Tony told Peter what had happened the pup was upset. Peter loved his Uncle Happy and he was upset that he was hurt. But he was also smart. Peter knew that it wasn’t safe for him to go back to Malibu with his Mamma even though he wanted to go.

When Tony landed in Malibu he dropped a few spare Iron Man suits back off at the house and went to go visit Happy. Pepper was already there at his side and the two sat there and worried over their friend. But visiting times were short and soon Tony was leaving the hospital and driving back to the house to work with JARVIS on how to solve this whole Mandarin issue. He couldn’t let them win. He refused. 

Things were… confusing as Tony tried to figure all of this out. The heat signatures were weird and honestly, the explosions that kept popping up weren’t like normal bomb explosions. And Tony would know about normal bomb explosions. Especially the one in Rosehill Tennessee. Tony would have to look into that one. No, these explosions were almost like biological weapons. No residue was ever left behind so the only logical option in Tony’s opinion was that that it was biological and very high heat. It kind of reminded him of the accidental exploding plants from an old botanist friend of his that he’d met 11 months before he met James. God Tony missed his mate so much.

But speaking of botanist friend, Tony was surprised to see said Friend showing up at his house and telling him that her boss Killian, the same Alpha who had been hitting on Pepper, had ties to the Mandarin. Tony barely had time to process that before his house was being bombarded by ballistics. Tony had no idea why, but it probably had to do with the Mandarin and Maya Hanson showing up at his door. He had JARVIS send a quick message to Pepper and Rhodey to let them know what was happening before he donned his slightly useless Mark 42 suit and attempted to navigate through the barrage of bullets.

Although getting thrown into the ocean and covered in concrete caused Tony to quickly blackout and for JARVIS to take control. 

Tony woke up to the sound of an alarm blaring and concrete getting closer and closer to his face. Tony shouted as he hit the ground and began rolling in the snow until he was also to stop. He ripped the faceplate off of the armour and undid the suit. He shivered as the cold air hit his skin. Tony wasn’t a big fan of the cold.

“JARVIS? Where are we?” asked Tony as he looked around at the scenery.

“We’re in Tennessee.”

“WHY!?”

“You asked me to prepare a flight plan.”

“Not what I meant J. I can’t be here! I need to get back to Peter! He’s probably worried sick.” Worried Tony as he shivered from the cold.

“Sir… I do believe that I am malfunctioning.” Spoke JARVIS and Tony’s worry escalated.

“J… Buddy? Don’t leave me.”

But it was too late and Tony was soon on his own in the snow. Tony walked for over a mile in the snow before he reached a closed gas station that luckily had a payphone. Tony quickly got it to work with the few quarters he happened to have in his pocket. The first thing Tony did? He phoned Mrs. Leeds.

“Hello?

“Hi, Shauna. It’s Tony.”

“Tony! You’re alright. That explosion you were in is all over the news. Peter’s in hysterics. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m… I’m fine. Can I talk to him?”

“Of course. I’ll go get him.”

Tony waited for a moment until he heard a little voice on the other end of the line. 

“Mamma?” asked Peter timidly and Tony’s heart ached for his pup.

“Hey, Pete.”

“Mamma! You’re ok? The news said you were dead.” Cried Peter on the other end of the line.

“Remember what I said about the news, Pete. The news can lie. I’m fine, but I might not be home for a few days. But I promise I’ll be home by Christmas, alright pup. I’ll be there. I just have to make sure everything is safe first. Ok?”

“Ok. I love you, Mamma.”

“I love you to Pete. I love you so much.”

Soon after the line went dead and Tony continued on his journey. About a half-mile down the road, Tony came across a house that had a large garage off to the side. A garage meant tools and hopefully, he’d be able to fix up his armour. So, Tony snuck in and hoped for the best.

Tony was still shivering as he lugged the suit inside and propped it up on the couch. The cold air had seeped into the arc reactor and it was making his chest ache. But just as Tony was sitting down a small figure entered the garage and a potato landed at his feet. Tony looked up to see a young Alpha pup standing in front of him holding a potato gun. 

“Freeze!” shouted the pup and Tony turned to look at him.

“Alright. You’ve got me. Nice potato gun. The barrel’s a little long, but that’s an easy fix.” Spoke Tony and he saw the pup lose the tension he was carrying. The poor thing couldn’t have been much younger than Peter. Maybe 10 at the most.

“What’s that thing on your chest?” asked the pup as he cautiously walked closer.

“It’s an electromagnet.”

“What does it power?”

Tony looked the pup over because he pointed his head towards the suit of armour that was laying brokenly on the couch. Instantly the pup dropped the potato gun and ran over to it in excitement. It reminded Tony of when Peter first saw the armour.

“Oh. My. God! OHMYGOD! That’s… That’s Iron Man!” squealed the pup and Tony smiled.

“Well… technically I am.”

Technically, you’re dead.” Spoke the pup as he pulled a newspaper out of his satchel and handed it to Tony. The front page detailed the attack on the house and how Tony was presumed dead. No wonder Peter had been freaking out.

“What happened to him?” asked the pup as he began climbing all over the armour.

“Life. But don’t worry, I’ll fix him.”

“Like a mechanic?”

“Exactly.”

“You know if I was building Iron Man and War Machine,” started the pup as he got all excited.

“It’s Iron Patriot now.” Interrupted Tony.

“That’s waaaaaay cooler!”

“No, it’s not.”

Well anyway. If I was building them I’d have added the retro… retro…”

“Retroreflective panels?”

“Yeah, those. Make them all stealth mode.” Smiled the pup and Tony nodded.

“That’s not a bad idea.” 

Tony watched as the pup continued to clamber around and fiddle with the suit. He reached for one of the fingers of the suit and the appendage came right off.

“Sorry.” Muttered the pup and Tony looked back at him.

“It’s alright. That’s fixable. Just be careful.” Sighed Tony. This wasn’t the first time a pup had broken something off of the suit. “So, who’s home right now?” 

“Well, my little sister is in bed and mom already left for the diner. And dad left for 7/11 to get scratchers. I guess he won because that was six years ago.” Muttered the pup and Tony frowned.

“Dads leave. It happens. It sucks but it happens.” Sighed Tony as the thought of both his own horrible father and his absent mate.

“So what’s your name kid?” asked Tony as he saw the pup looking back up at him.

“Harley. And you?” asked Harley politely.

“The mechanic. Tony.”

The two stared at each other for a moment before Tony spoke again.

“So here’s the thing kid. I’m in a bit of a bind and I’m going to need a few things.” Tony then proceeded to ramble off a list of things he’d need to fix the suit so her could get JARVIS back. He could tell just by looking at him that Harley was a smart kid. The potato gun proved that so Tony knew that the kid understood what Tony needed. 

“And what’s in it for me?” asked Harley and Tony smiled.

“Well first, tell me their name.”

“Who’s name?”

“The kid that’s bullying you.”

“How did you know that?” asked Harley as he starred up at Tony.

“I’ve got a pup around your age. I know when a kid’s being bullied.”

Harley nodded and Tony reached out and plucked a small cylinder from the shoulder of the armour and handed it to Harley.

“This is a pinata for a cricket. Just kidding it’s a very powerful weapon. Point it away from your face. Press the button on top. It discourages bullying.” Harley nodded along and gladly took the cylinder.

Soon enough the pup was running around and grabbing things while Tony set to work on fixing his suit. The entire time Harley asked questions and Tony answered them. He was used to this with Peter so he didn’t mind the barrage of questions. It took an hour but eventually Tony got the suit back online and JARVIS was very slowly rebooting. That was going to take a while. So, Tony thought it was high time he head to town to check things out. The first explosion had happened here after all. Hopefully, Tony could learn something useful.

When Tony left, Harley tagged along. Tony tried to tell the pup to stay home with his sister but Harley was stubborn and tagged along anyway. The two walked and talked as they made their way into town and over to the crater where the first explosion happened. The entire time as they got closer and closer, Harley kept asking questions.

“Can I ask you about New York?” asked Harley and Tony frowned.

“Um… no. Let’s not talk about that.”

“What about the Avengers? Can we talk about them?”

“Maybe later. We’ve got a job to do.”

They made their way over to the crater and Tony was greeted with a memorial there for all the victims of the explosion. Tony began to inspect things while Harley took a seat at the side of the crater.

“So what’s the story here? What happened?” asked Tony as he looked around.

“I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live around here. He won a bunch of medals in the army. One day folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb.” Spoke Harley as he looked around. 

“Six people died. Including Chad Davis.”

“Yeah.”

“So why only five shadows?”

“The adults said it’s to show the people’s souls going to Heaven. Except the bomb guy. He went to Hell so he didn’t get a shadow.” Answered Harley and Tony sat down next to him.

“Do you buy that?”

“No.”

The two sat in silence for a little bit as Tony looked out of the scene, analyzing every little detail he could.

“You know what this crater reminds me of? I huge wormhole in New York. Does it remind you?” asked Harley with a smirk on his face.

“That’s manipulative. I said I didn’t want to talk about it.” Panicked Tony but he managed to keep his voice even so he didn’t freak out the pup. He knew Peter freaked out when Tony had a panic attack. 

“Are they coming back? The aliens?”

“Maybe. Can you stop? I have a bit of an anxiety issue and this isn’t helping.” Chastised Tony as he tried to keep his emotions under control. “Just… just let me catch my breath for a second.”

“Are there bad guys here in Rosehill? Do I need to do anything?”

“Nope.”

“Are you on medication?”

“No.”

Should you be?”

“Probably…”

“Do you have PTSD?”

“Yup…” by that point Tony was absolutely certain that he was having a full-on breakdown and Harley had picked up on that.

“Are you ok?” asked the pup and Tony fought with himself to get him breathing under control.

Seconds later Tony was on his feet and walking away a bit. He needed to get away from the crater. The second Harley had brought up New York Tony couldn’t see anything else. So, Tony got up to walk away with Harley trailing after him like a lost puppy. Tony ended up kneeling in the snow and pressing it to his face in an effort to cool off.

“What the hell was that?” asked Harley as Tony finally calmed down. Tony just looked up at the pup and threw a snowball at him. 

“Your fault. You spazzed me out.” 

From there Tony got Harley talking about what he knew. He was soon pointed towards the bar where Chad Davis’ mother was and he started heading there. He told Harley to wait outside somewhere safe. Bars were no place for a pup.

What happened next was an absolute whirlwind of shit. One minute Tony was getting information from Mrs. Davis and figuring out that it was AIM that had made people into bombs, and the next he was in a literal firefight with some of said people bombs. It sucked It really did. Tony wanted nothing more than for this to be over so that he could return to Peter and so Harley could be safe, but since when did Tony ever get anything he really wanted.

Luckily, Harley came in clutch with the little weapons that Tony had given him, but Tony had ended up spraining his ankle pretty bad in the process. But he really had no choice at the moment other than to walk it off.

Tony went back to the remains of the bar and gathered up what information he could before he was picking up the keys to one of the cars that the AIM guys had driven in with. Harley was back with him and Tony was making sure that he knew what was going on.

“Alright kid, so here’s what’s up. I need to you go back home with your mom and sister and wait by the phone. You are going to help me get J and the suit back online so stay near the phone. Got it?” spoke Tony and Harley looked up at him.

“Got it.”

“Good. You did good kid.”

Tony made sure that Harley was on his way back home before Tony started the car and sped off. He didn’t need anybody on his tail. At one point into his drive to Miami, Tony called Rhodey to get his help. The military had recently broken their contract with him and had AIM and Killian work on the suit and Tony had been pissed about that. But this was his opportunity to get into AIM’s servers and figure some more shit out. Rhodey was quite helpful and hearing that his best friend's password was WARMACHINEROX made him feel a little bit better.

After getting more information as well as a confirmation that he did need to head to Miami, Tony called up Harley and had the pup help him get JARVIS back up. Luckily, the AI was now talking but he was having trouble with ending sentences. Tony was relieved to have JARVIS up and running in some capacity again, but that didn’t stop him from having another panic attack. Although, this time Harley was able to get him out of it. 

“You’re a mechanic, right?”

“Yeah…”

So why don’t you just build something?”

From there, Tony had a goal in mind. He needed weapons and well, he knew weapons. So, Tony hit up the local hardware store once he got to Miami and went absolutely nuts with buying various things to make all sorts of improvised weapons. Tony was good at improvising. Seriously. At one point at MIT, he and Rhodey had joined an improv club and Tony had killed it before Howard forced him to quit.

Once Tony got his haul, he got to work on making various things. Ornament bombs. tasers, and nail gun launchers made up his arsenal, and soon, Tony was ready to storm AIM and the Mandarins base. The people who looked at Tony and thought that he could never be stealthy had clearly never gotten to know him. Tony managed to make it into the base unseen as he took out guard after guard. It was one of the only times that Tony was glad that he was small. It helped him go undetected. 

Learning that the Mandarin was some shmuck named Trevor Slattery made him want to blow something up. This whole time the Mandarin had been a rouse for AIM to blame the explosions on others and insight more hatred and animosity. How the fuck did they get away with this.

But, just as Tony was about to do something about the situation. He was knocked unconscious.

Now normally waking up tied to a bed was Tony’s idea of a good time, even though he hadn’t slept with anybody since James. However, waking up zip-tied to a bed surrounded by scary Alphas and Betas with guns was absolutely NOT a good time.

Coming face to face with Maya Hanson again wasn’t fun either. She was in Killian’s pocket and it pissed Tony off. She had a brilliant mind and here it was being wasted. She was right where Tony used to be, although it looked like she wasn’t even trying to get out. Tony gave a little speech of his own to try and convince her to turn back to the good side of science, but he wasn’t sure if it was much use.

But, before Tony got even try and convince Maya to let him go, Killian showed up and started yammering away and posturing like every other knot head. He went off about the conference in Switzerland and how he’d “seen the light”. Honestly, it was annoying.

And then Tony learned that Killian had kidnapped Pepper and injected her with Extremis. That was when Tony knew for sure that he was going to kill Killian. You don’t hurt Tony’s pack without paying for it.

Moments later Maya was dead and Tony was summoning his Mark 42 suit with the little sensors he’s embedded in his arm. He knew it would take a while for the armour to get there and free him from the stupid bed, so Tony had to bide his time. He spent the time antagonizing his guards until his suit arrived and he began to kick ass. 

Tony eventually made his way outside where he saw Killian flying off in his plane with the War Machine armour tailing behind. Since when was Rhodey there. Tony tried to take off to go catch up but he didn’t have enough power to get off the ground. So, he was relegated to awkwardly walking to the entrance area.

“Tony?” asked Rhodey as the two entered a call.

“Tell me that’s you in the suit.”

“No. You got yours?”

“Well… sort of.”

“Fucking hell Tones.”

“Main house, as fast as you can. I’ve got someone you should meet.”

After showing Rhodey the man who had been masquerading as the Mandarin and getting some information out of him, Tony and Rhodey were quickly on their way to where Killian and his human explosives were going to be hiding out. They also called the Vice President to alert him to Killian’s plans for the President. They got the green light to act and quickly they changed course to start tracking the plan that the president and the War Machine armour were on.

And that was when shit hit the fan and everything continued to get worse.

Tony managed to get onto the plane and kill the AIM operative that was there but he’d already managed to eject 13 innocent people from the plane and they were falling to their deaths. By some fucking miracle Tony managed to save them all but at the cost of his suit. Luckily, JARVIS had informed Tony that he had enacted the “House Party Protocol” and all of his other suits were inbound to help him and Rhodey fight Kilian and save Pepper. 

It was nighttime by the time Tony and Rhodey arrived at the oil rig where Killian and his lackeys were keeping Pepper and the President. By this point, Tony was feeling extremely exhausted from lack of sleep and from being hit in the head one too many times. He was dizzy and angry and he just wanted this to be over with. He was sick and tired of things not going right in his life. The only things that had ever gone right were Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, and Peter. Everything else sucked ass.

So, Tony and Rhodey started to storm the base. And unfortunately, they very quickly found themselves surrounded and outgunned. Lucky for them, JARVIS was right on time with a fleet of over 30 Iron Man suits that Tony had made and obsessed over since the Battle of New York. Those suits were a lifesaver and they allowed Tony and Rhodey to work on their respective tasks. So, while Rhodey got to saving the President, Tony went after Pepper.

“JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures and eliminate with extreme prejudice.”

“Yes Sir.”

With JARVIS’s help, Tony found Pepper with relative ease, and he would have managed to save her too if Killian hadn’t interfered. 

Watching Pepper fall after he tried to catch her would forever haunt Tony’s dreams. Pepper was pack. She was family. She was important to him and he’d let her fall. Tony would forever blame himself for not being fast enough. Everything shattered when she fell. Tony felt numb. He felt numb and yet he felt vindictive. He had a delusional Alpha to kill. 

Well, it turned out that trying to kill an evil Alpha who can spit fire was harder than it sounded. Tony ended up covered in small cuts and burns as he powered through multiple suits in his attempts to take out Killian. In the end, Tony ended up using the extremely beat-up Mark 42 armour to surround Killian and blow him up from the inside.

In the aftermath of the explosion, Tony found himself laying flat on his back on the ground. Everything hurt. His head was spinning and his ankle hurt. But, despite that Tony got up and looked around. He sighed in relief when he saw the helmet sitting alone on the ground. Although his relief didn’t last long when the helmet broke and there was no skull inside.

So thank fuck that Pepper managed to survive her fall and was the one to take down Killian. Who knew that Pepper was such a badass? Tony was impressed. He’d absolutely be making Pepper her own suit in the future.

After Killian was dealt with Tony found himself relying on Rhodey and Pepper for support as they made their way off of the rig to where Rhodey had stashed the President. The man was fine, if not shaken. They were able to call in for some back-up before they were debriefed. The president wanted to keep the three of them there to talk, but honestly, Tony had other plans.

“Sorry Mr. President, but in all honesty, we’re all exhausted and I’ve got some work to do and a pup to get back home to before Christmas. I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course Mr. Stark. I’ll send along a plane for you three. Thank you, really, for everything.”

For as much as Tony wanted to sleep on the flight home, he had work to do. He almost had the bio-explosion problem solved back in 1999 when he drunk. Now that he was sober it should be a no-brainer. So, Tony worked like a dog for the entire flight so that when they landed he could make a cure for Pepper.

He solved it by the way and sent the instructions to JARVIS so that the cure would be synthesized by the time they were back at the tower.

But in making a cure, Tony started thinking about his own health. He wasn’t getting any younger and he wanted to be there for Peter for as long as possible. With his new Extremis cure, it was possible that he could use it to get the arc reactor removed from his chest. It wouldn’t stop him from being Iron Man, the suit already ran on its own reactor. No, getting to remove the reactor would go to improving Tony’s quality of life. Less pain. No gaping hole with metal in it to let in infections. Sure, Tony would always have immune system problems from the reactor and he’d have to have his sternum reconstructed, but having the shrapnel removed from his heart would be amazing.

The second Tony and his pack landed back in New York; Tony practically made a mad dash to Mrs. Leeds house to pick up Peter. On the flight home, Tony had gotten a call from Happy’s doctor telling them that he’d woken up and would be just fine and would likely be alright to go home in a few days. That was one weight off of Tony’s shoulders. He’d been worried about him.

Tony hadn’t even knocked on the door before he was met with an armful of crying pup. Tony just held him close and thanked Mrs. Leeds profusely for watching his son while everything happened. Of course, she said it was no problem and after a few more minutes of talking, they were off back to the tower. Peter clung to Tony the entire time.

Tony didn’t blame him.

Tony made a big deal out of Christmas that year for Peter’s sake. The pup had been through enough that year. He needed some time to just be a pup. Plus it helped that some of the other Avengers like Bruce and Clint sent some presents for Peter. The smile on his face was priceless. Tony took so many pictures. 

As the new year began and after a lot of talks with various doctors, Tony finally got the arc reactor removed from his chest. It was a gruelling surgery that took five hours to complete and by the end of it Tony was on bed rest and stuck in the hospital for three weeks, but it was worth it. For the first time in years, Tony could breathe without a chunk of metal digging into his lungs. Maybe now things would get better.

After his surgery, Bruce came back to the tower to live with Tony and Peter. He helped a lot with Tony’s physio to get his lungs and heart stronger. Tony wanted to be able to use the armour again. It was at Bruce and Rhodey’s insistence that Tony start going to therapy. He needed somebody to talk to and despite Tony’s trepidations of seeing one again after so long, he agreed. It was more for Peter than himself, but if it got Tony the help he needed then so be it. 

Things were pretty good for a year after that. Peter excelled at school. Tony’s pack healed. There was a small thing with Thor showing up and causing a ruckus in England, but Tony wasn’t doing so great when that happened health-wise, so he couldn’t go help out. But other than that, things were ok. Tony heard from the other Avengers every so often and he helped Fury retrofit the carriers. He didn’t need anybody else getting stuck in any giant rotating blades. Once was enough. So, things were going pretty good. Life was calm and Tony was healing and happy.

And then SHIELD fell.

Tony received a message from Clint of all people about what was going on and what Rogers, Romanov, and some guy from the Falcon program named Sam Wilson were doing. Tony didn’t have much time to get Peter from school and back to the tower before he, Peter, and Bruce went into the lab and locked it down. Peter was freaked out but he and Bruce kept themselves busy while Tony worked on sorting through the files that were coming through the data dump. He wanted to save as many good, non-HYDRA agents as he could but Romanov had made that exceedingly difficult. Although judging by how the information was all dumped at one and not sorted, Tony had put his money on Rogers being the one to pull the trigger on this little scheme. 

Three days later Rogers and his merry band of misfits as well as Clint showed up at the tower and asked for a place to stay. Tony had already set up spaces for them over a year ago so all he had to do was show them to their rooms. Peter was overexcited that day. He kept running from Avenger to Avenger asking all sorts of questions. At least they were all nice to him. Especially Clint. He actually liked the overactive pup’s company.

And then there was the fact that Peter had started calling the other Avengers “aunty and uncle”. It made Tony feel a bit uncomfortable but he let it slide. If Peter was happy then he’d suck it up.

But then there was also the fact that just being around Rogers made Tony feel uncomfortable. A deadly mix of childhood issues and new grievances made it so Tony just didn’t trust him. And well… Tony was pretty sure that Rogers was hiding something from him. But he didn’t ask. With Thor now back they were busy trying to track down that fucking sceptre of Loki’s. 

Tony never did find out that Steve Rogers knew that his friend and coincidentally, Tony’s mate, was the one that killed his parents. But Tony wouldn’t even find out that whole mate thing for another year or so.

Looking for the sceptre and tracking HYDRA was hard work. Tony often found himself in the lab making new weapons and tracking technology for the team. It was exhausting. The only thing that made it all worthwhile was when Peter came down to “annoy him”. Peter always made it all worthwhile. How could he not?

It took almost a year after the fall of SHIELD for them to locate Loki’s sceptre and HYDRA’s current main base. It was in a little country in Sokovia in the capital of Novi Grad. The Avengers took over a week to prepare for this big push into destroying HYDRA. Everything needed to be perfect before they left. Their backup plans had backup plans. That’s how much preparation went into this siege.

The day they left Tony had a gut feeling that something was going to go wrong. But, like the good little Omega that certain people wanted him to be, he soldier on and left to go to war against HYDRA once more. He packed up his gear into the jet and made sure everything was in order before he said his goodbyes to Peter. The entire time his heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest. 

“Ok, Pete. Remember to be good for Uncle Happy and Aunty Pepper while we’re gone.”

“I know Mamma. I’m always good.”

“I know pup. Just let me worry. I’m your Mom, I’ll always worry.”

Tony hated saying goodbye. He hated it, especially when he was certain that something was going to go wrong.

The fight itself was simple. They took down the HYDRA soldier and the big bad science guy without too many problems. Sure Clint took a hit, but he’d be fine. Their new doctor, Hellen Cho (who was absolutely amazing and deserved more recognition from the scientific community than she got), would fix him up fine.

No, the problems on the field that day stemmed from the two enhanced individuals that HYDRA had made. One was a speedster that liked to trip people and the other was a little witch that loved messing with people’s heads. Tony hated that. He didn’t need somebody messing with his head. Howard and Stane had done that enough without magic.

Tony’s memories of what really happened over the course of the next week were really hazy. He remembered finding a secret door and following the damp, must hallway down to a room filled with stollen Chitauri and SHIELD tech. Tony remembered feeling panic rise in his chest as he looked around and tried not to focus on all the memories of the battle.

He remembered the sceptre sitting on a stand in the middle of the room. Almost as if it was placed there with the purpose of being taken. So, Tony reached out to take it. But, just as he was about to touch the sceptre, his vision was tinted red and he was no longer in the same room.

All Tony saw was Peter, Rhodey, Happy, Pepper, and the other Avengers dead and bleeding out around his feet as aliens stormed Earth. He heard screaming and shouting and a voice that sounded familiar, yet not, telling him how useless he was. How he was so stupid of an Omega that his pup was now dead. And then the voice spoke again and Tony’s heart dropped further. 

“I left you for a reason. Who would want such a useless Omega as a mate.”

And then Tony blinked and it was gone. His hands were shaking like mad and his breathing was shallow. What the hell was that!? Tony was on autopilot as he brought the sceptre back to the others.

And that’s when Tony started forgetting things.

He remembered making it back to the tower and checking in on Peter, but the rest was completely blank. Tony remembered tucking in Peter every so often when it was night time, but it felt like it wasn’t him doing that. Tony felt like he was trapped in his own body and his actions weren’t his own. He didn’t know what he was doing. He felt shaky and exhausted and Tony didn’t know why. He had nothing. Just large, blank moments of time.

And that turned out to be a very big problem.

One of the moments where Tony came to and began to register things around him was when Thor was holding him up by the neck and choking him while shouting about Ultron. Tony’s scent immediately turned sour with fear because he had absolutely no recollection of what had just happened. Tony had scrapped the Ultron project years ago! Now he was being choked and Rhodey was yelling for Thor to stop.

One Thor dropped Tony from his grip Tony fell to his knees and started having a panic attack. He had no idea what was going on. His head hurt like crazy and he could see out of the corner of his eye, the remains of JARVIS’s code. Tony began to panic more and hold his head. He didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t know and it hurt.

“Tony! Tones! Hey. Hey! Tony. Hey, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Spoke Rhodey as he raced to Tony’s side and worked on helping the Omega calm down. It took a while but Tony got there. He was glad that Peter wasn’t there. Rhodey said he was safe in bed for the night.

“What the hell Is going on?” grouched Rogers and he looked and Tony who’s face ashen.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know. I… I can’t remember…” stuttered Tony as he sat there with shaking hands.

“What do you mean you don’t remember? You built a murder bot!” shouted Rogers and a few of the others nodded.

“I… I don’t… It’s all blank. Why is it all blank?” worried Tony and Clint looked over in concern.

“What do you mean it’s all blank?” asked Clint as he knelt down in front of Tony.

“I don’t… I don’t remember.”

“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” asked Bruce and Tony’s voice began to break as he spoke.

“I remember… I remember going into that bunker to get the sceptre. I… I remember seeing this red mist and then all of you were dead. All… all dead. It didn’t stop. Why didn’t it stop? Am I going crazy?” whispered Tony and everyone around him frowned. A red mist? There was really only one explanation for that that they knew of. 

“Wait, Cap. Remember back in Sokovia there was that woman with the weird magic? Remember in the report it said she got it from Loki’s mind control sceptre. Well, what if she did something to Tony and that’s why he doesn’t remember? What if that’s why Ultron is a thing? She is HYDRA after all.” Spoke Bruce and a few of the others nodded including Sam and Natasha. Clint just looked sad. He knew the damage that the sceptre could do.

“That.. uh… That’s certainly a possibility.” Sighed Rogers as he looked back down at Tony. The poor Omega still looked quite shaken.

“Alright. We need a plan. We’ll start sifting through information in shifts so we can rest. Stark… Go get some rest first before you help us. You look like hell.” commanded Steve and Tony nodded as Rhodey helped him to his feet. Despite the animosity that was sometimes there between the two of them, Steve Rogers didn’t like seeing one of his team looking like that. He didn’t know what was going on with Tony, but Steve knew he had to get to the bottom of things and fast. 

“JARVIS?” asked Tony as Rhodey helped him walk out of the lab. 

“I’m sorry Tones. I’m so sorry.” Consoled Rhodey and a start tear fell from Tony’s eyes. JARVIS was like a son to him and now he was gone. It hurt like hell.

“Peter?” asked Tony. Hopefully, his pup was alright.

“He’s fine. He’d in bed. I’ll take him to Mama’s house in the morning and I’ll come back to help. She’ll keep an eye on him while we go kick ass. Ok?”

“Ok.” 

Tony blacked out once his head hit his pillow. He felt absolutely exhausted and achy as if his brain was being pulled in a million directions at once.

By the time Tony got up, he wasn’t looking much better but he was determined to figure out what had happened. The team and Hill filled him in on what had happened. According to Bruce, Tony had resurrected the Ultron project while in his blackout. Bruce told him that it hadn’t actually been working and nothing was happening and nobody was sure how Ultron came to life and why he’d attacked JARVIS.

Tony just took all the information in while sitting there in shock. He’d scrapped Ultron years ago. How the hell had this Maximoff lady figured out about it? She must have dug through his head at some point in the bunker.

It took a few hours of work and some arguments, they figured out a lead on Ultron. So, they suited up and boarded the jet and headed to Johannesburg to talk to Ulysses Klaue. Tony knew him from the days when he made weapons. Stane made him talk to him all the time and Tony hated it. The guy was sleazy. Tony made sure to let everyone know how sleazy this guy was.

When they arrived in Johannesburg, shit quickly hit the fan. Klaue was there as well as the murder twins, who they discovered hated Tony for some reason. They didn’t say. Although they alluded to Tony’s past making weapons. Tony pointed out that he never wanted to make them but the idiots didn’t care.

All they did was start a fight.

The fight was absolutely horrible. The little witch got into Steve, Natasha, Thor, and Bruce’s heads and she even set the Hulk on the city. Innocent people died because of her actions. And, because Tony had to try and contain the Hulk, Ultron got away. 

Now people were dead, hurt, and they were on the run.

Clint took over flying the jet to a safe house. Tony just sat off to the side for the flight. He’d had another blackout moment during the fight against the twins and Ultron. It was a small one but he didn’t remember what had happened between Ultron’s first attack and him going after Bruce. This was extremely unsettling. Those moments of blankness hung over Tony like a shroud. He just wanted this to stop. He was getting scared. 

They landed at a small farm in Missouri as the sun began to rise. At that point, everyone was exhausted from dealing with Maximoff’s mind bullshit. Tony didn’t know that this house existed but Clint knew the place and Tony trusted him.

What Tony wasn’t expecting was to walk inside and see two pups running at Clint and a pregnant Beta smiling at his side.

“Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to my mate Laura and my pups Cooper and Lila.” Smiled Clint as he introduced his family. Guess Tony wasn’t the only Avenger with a pup. Tony waved at everyone and he saw Lila looking up at him.

“You’re an Omega like me?” asked the pup and Tony nodded.

“And you’re a superhero?” Tony nodded again with a smile.

“See Cooper, I can be a hero too. It’s not just Alphas and Betas!” shouted Lila as she went running after her brother.

Tony watched as everyone milled around or went off to change out of their uniforms. Thor flew off somewhere but Tony didn’t ask questions. 

“You good man? You look pale.” Asked Clint as he walked up to Tony with some space clothes.

“I blacked out again in Johannesburg.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Here, just change into these and sit down for the rest of the morning. Laura is making breakfast. You need to eat.”

All Tony could do was nod and walk off to a spare room to get changed. He soon found himself sitting on the couch next to Bruce who was equally as shaken by what had happened. Tony just sort of existed while everyone talked and ate. Seeing Steve interact with younger pups was kind of funny. He was used to Peter who was already a teenager and pretty mature for his age. Seeing him with a six-year-old who was badgering him with questions was kind of funny. Or it would have been if Tony wasn’t so tired.

After breakfast, Tony offered to go chop firewood for the Bartons just to have something to do. Clint and Bruce argued that Tony should get some rest, but Tony didn’t care. He just needed to do something. So, Clint pointed Tony in the direction of the woodpile.

Steve followed behind.

“Stark? Tony? We need to talk about what’s going on.” Spoke Steve as they started chopping the wood.

“Look Steve, I’ve got nothing. I don’t know what going on.” Sighed Tony as he kept his focus squarely on the axe in his hands. He had the handle in a white-knuckle grip. 

“Tony, we need to figure this out. Ultron is out there and you’re the one who can stop him.” Argued Steve and Tony’s resolve broke. He was exhausted and anxious. He was scared and shaky. Tony was at his breaking point.

“Look, Steve! I don’t know what’s happening! I don’t and it hurts! I keep blacking out and it hurts. My head hurts and it feels like I’m not even in my own body! Like I’m just a puppet! I… I… I need it to stop. It… It won't stop! Why won’t it stop!?” Tony’s voice cracked as he spoke and he dropped the axe he was holding.

Tony’s scent had turned sour again and for once Steve believed Tony. He could see how distressed the Omega was and it was pulling on his instincts to help. So, he did. He walked over and drew the Omega into his arms and just held him. Tony didn’t fight it. He was too tired to.

Tony let Steve bring him back inside and to the couch in the living room. He barely clued in when Laura asked what was wrong and Clint began hovering. At some point, he was bundled up in some blankets and he fell into a restless sleep.

After Tony had fallen asleep, Fury showed up and began talking to the other Avengers to figure out what had happened. 

“Where’s Stark?” asked Fury and Steve pointed over to the couch Tony had fallen asleep on. 

“Hill filled me in on what’s going on. How’s he been?”

“Not good. He’s having some pretty massive lapses in memory. He said it’s been hurting him.”

“Let him sleep till dinner, then we’ve got to figure out how to fight this thing.”

Once Tony woke up they eat dinner and played with Clint’s pups for s bit before they started working on a plan. It was decided that Tony would go off to try and see who was keeping Ultron from accessing the nuclear codes Bruce would meet them back at the tower. And the others went to go get Dr. Cho. With everything planned out, Clint showed them to some spare rooms so they could retire for the night. Because Clint was a medaling bastard, Tony ended up rooming with Steve.

“You feel any better?” asked Steve as the two finished getting changed into some spare pyjamas.

“I’m fine. Just tired.” Sighed Tony and Steve looked back at him.

“Hey, we’re going to win this. We’ll win this together and then you can go back to Peter.”

“I sure hope so.”

The two finished getting read in silence and proceeded to slide into the all too small bed. What the hell was Barton thinking sticking them in such a small space? Tony lay there staring at the ceiling as he tried to get his mind back in order. He didn’t notice Steve staring at the scared bonding bite on his neck.

“What was your mate like?” asked Steve as the two lay there awkwardly.

“I don’t know. I barely know anything about him. We met when I was in heat.”

“Then what do you remember?”

“I remember he had brown hair and blue eyes. I remember his name was James. He left me this chain and a note when he took off. That’s… That’s about it.” 

“I hope you find him again Stark.”

Tony didn’t know how to respond to that. Something in Steve’s voice sounded weird when he said that.

The next morning Tony and the others went off on their respective tasks. Tony flew off in his suit and arrived at the Nexus in record time. And, once Tony started in on his search for their little mystery helper, he was met with a pleasant surprise. One that he couldn’t wait to get home.

So, Tony flew back off and was filled in on what was happening with the others. They’d gotten the Cradle and Dr. Cho to safety and Clint was bringing the cradle to the tower. Ultron was trying to use it and they needed Tony and Bruce to look it over. Natasha was also captured by Ultron so Tony made sure that he had some old school spy stuff back at the tower for Clint to use to find her.

Once Tony got back to the tower he rushed back to his room to get changed before he raced over to Bruce to wait for Clint and the cradle. Once they had it Clint went off to look for Natasha while Tony and Bruce got to work.

“Alright, how about you start with the mechanical bits while I work on tissue degeneration.” Spoke Bruce. And while Tony was glad that Bruce was taking control, Tony had a different idea.

“What if we don’t?”

“Tony…?”

“Look, our guy keeping the codes away? I found him. It’s JARVIS!” Smiled Tony as he brought the hologram to life.

“Hello there Dr. Banner.”

“So you’re suggesting that we put JARVIS inside of this thing?”

“Yeah. Look, maybe it’s not the best idea, but it’s what we’ve got. We’d never be able to break down everything in the cradle in time so why not use it for ourselves. With JARVIS inside we know it won't be another evil murder bot. So just help me with this Bruce.”

“You’re not in another blackout, are you?” asked Bruce and Tony looked back at him with determination in his eyes.

“I’ve never felt clearer in my life.” 

And so, Tony and Bruce got to work. It was hard work and they were on a time crunch. They had to attach each new neuron to the stone from the sceptre non-sequentially and that took time. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have enough.

Very unceremoniously, Steve showed up with the murder twins and instantly began causing problems. There was shouting. So much shouting.

And that was when they found out the truth. 

“Of course I used my magic on Stark. Why would I not? Tony Stark is a murderer. His weapons killed our parents. He deserves to suffer and die!” shouted Wanda and Tony’s face blanched.

“What…?” whispered Tony and everyone else looked confused.

“Look, we don’t have time for this. We have bigger problems.” Shouted Bruce and Tony wanted to nod but he was starting to blackout again.

He was pretty sure that Thor showed up and brought his Vision to life and Tony was pretty sure that Vision also picked up Thor’s hammer at one point. But still, Tony didn’t clue back in until they were about to arrive in Novi Grad. He came to hearing Steve tell Wanda Maximoff to get her magic out of Tony because they needed him for the fight that was about to come.

Everybody’s first priority was to get the civilians out of harm's way. Most of the Avengers worked on that while Tony and Thor fought Ultron and his robot minions head-on. It wasn’t easy. It really wasn’t. Especially once the city started flying. That was when the real fight began.

Tony took hit after hit as more and more of Ultron’s bots came out of the woodwork. The city rose higher and higher into the air. The air got thinner and it was hard to breathe, but the Avengers worked hard. But, despite their best efforts, they knew they had to get the city to drop soon because if it got too high it could cause global annihilation.

Thankfully Rhodey took that moment to show up and help. Tony was so happy to see him. 

“I said I’d be back to help. And I brought back-up.” 

Having Fury and the carrier there to help get the remaining civilians off of the floating city was a godsend. It allowed Tony to focus on dropping the city sooner and the others to finish getting rid of Ultron. Vision was great in getting rid of Ultron and that allowed Tony and Thor to drop the city once they could.

Tony remembered hitting the water hard as the city fell on top of his. Tony blacked out soon after from the pain of shit landing on him. He was lucky that Thor pulled him out and up to the carrier before he got trapped and died. Tony was in the hospital for a few days after that. He had a concussion, he was exhausted, and he’d broken a few ribs.

Tony helped where he could when it came to rebuilding Novi Grad. He sent as much help as possible while he was laid up. Peter stuck by his side the entire time. Another thing Tony did was finish converting an old SI storage facility into the new Avengers Compound. He was already mostly finished before the whole Ultron thing, and with the team growing with Rhodey officially joining and the Maximoff bitch being pulled in, they needed the space. Plus, having the compound would allow Tony to give himself some distance between himself and Maximoff. She’d been even more volatile since her brother died due to Ultron. 

A few weeks later, the compound was finished and Tony went to make sure that everyone was setting in nicely and to see Thor off. He was heading out to space to hunt down Infinity Stones and wouldn’t be back for a while. Tony wanted to say goodbye. Especially since Bruce was gone. He’d flown off as the Hulk and nobody knew where he was. Tony missed his friend.

“You sure you don’t want to stick around with us Tony? I’ve heard we’re quite the party.” Smiled Steve. His eyes shone as he looked at Tony with a smile. He was escorting Tony to his car after they said goodbye to Thor. 

“I need to step back for a bit Steve. After everything that just happened, I need to step back. Not permanently. Maybe just a year off. I just… I need to get my bearings back. I need to be there for Peter and I need to work through a whole bunch of this.”

“Alright, Tony. Just make sure to come and a visit. I will miss you. And bring Peter by sometime. He’s a good pup. You did good.”

“Thanks.” Smiled Tony. “I’ll be back in a week to check in on things. Peter has his final exams coming up and I promised I’d help him study.”

“Sure thing Tony. I’ll see you then.”

Tony got in his car and started driving back to the tower. Hopefully, now he could take a break. He really needed one. Maybe he’d take Pepper up on her offer of a spa day. Yeah, that sounded nice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well… wasn’t that something. Do you like the little spin I put on AoU? I think it was interesting. Drop a comment to let me know what you think. Also, if any of y’all are curious about Steve’s behaviour at the farm, it’s partly because he’s keeping the secret of who killed Tony’s parents, and partly because he has a tiny crush on the Omega. It’s not because he knows that Bucky is Tony’s mate. He doesn’t know if y’all remember what happens in Second Times the Charm. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I’ll see you in the next one. -Shadows 


	7. Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter here we go! Not much to say here, but I hope you like this one. I’ll see you at the end.

With the Avengers living at the new compound, Tony and Peter’s life at the tower was back to some semblance of quiet. It was nice, at least for a little while. Tony was constantly called into the compound while Peter was in school to deal with shit. The drives were exhausting.

What made those visits even worse was that Tony had to deal with Wanda fucking Maximoff. Tony was honestly scared of her and she absolutely hated him. When Tony learned why he tried to remedy the situation by giving Maximoff the information about Stane and his dealing under the table and the fake weapons.

Tony ended up with a broken wrist, a concussion, and even more nightmares after that encounter. 

So Tony began to avoid the compound as much as possible. If he was needed he’d go but no more going to things that weren’t urgent. He was sick of being treated like shit by Maximoff and Steve not doing anything about it.

As the new school year began and summer came to an end, 14-year-old Peter was bouncing with excitement as he was given the list of trips his class would be doing that year. Peter would be going on a few trips for his Academic Decathlon stuff as well as a science trip to OsCorp. Tony rolled his eyes at that one. OsCorp was a bunch of biomedical scientists and weren’t even close to SI in terms of well… everything. But Peter was excited about the trip so Tony signed the slip so that he could go in late October with the rest of his class.

And that should have been the last that Tony ever heard about that trip other than Peter’s excited retelling after the trip was done. Who would have thought that that trip would change Tony and Peter’s lives so much?

The day started out normal. Tony made sure that Peter was up and ready for his trip and he even packed him his favourite lunch. Peter smiled as he ran out of the tower and to the car so that Tony could take him to school. Tony dropped him off with a smile and that should have been the end of it.

An hour before school ended when the students were back from their trip, Tony got a phone call from the school telling him that Peter was sick. So naturally, Tony freaked out and drove there right away to get his pup.

When Tony arrived he made a b-line for the nurse's office and was met by the school nurse who took him wo where Peter was laying down. Tony was at his pup’s side in seconds. Peter’s eyes were screwed shut and he was shaking. Tony’s heart broke to look at his pup like this so he reached out his hand and brushed it through Peter’s hair.

“Hey, pup? What happened?” worried Tony as Peter opened his eyes and looked up at him.

“I don’t know. I was feeling fine on the trip until we were about to leave. I don’t know what happened. We were walking through a room filled with bugs and then suddenly my head hurt and now I don’t feel good.” Croaked Peter and Tony began to worry more.

“Well, let’s get you home so you’ll be nice and comfortable, alright? Look’s like you’ve got a bit of a fever.”

Peter nodded and Tony thanked the nurse before he helped Peter stand so that he could bring him home. While in the car he had FRIDAY alert Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy so that they knew that was going on.

The second Tony and Peter got back to the tower, Tony bundled Peter off to bed and made him drink some water while he took his temperature.

“You’ve got quite the fever there pup. I’ll keep an eye on it, but I think it’s just your body preparing for your first heat. Just take it easy Pete. I’ll be right here.” Soothed Tony as he made sure that Peter was comfortable.

Peter took the rest of the week off of school while he worked through his illness. He was glad when the fever broke, but he hated the muscle aches. Tony started by his side the entire time. He wasn’t about to let his pup be sick and alone. 

Luckily though, Peter recovered just fine. More than fine actually. Peter was up and energetic and Tony was just happy that his pup was alright. He worried about Peter.

But then, weeks after Peter’s little incident on the day of the field trip, Tony began to notice some things. Just small things. But still things. First of all, Peter was eating more. Not that he didn’t eat enough, far from that. No, Peter seemed to always be eating something. Tony chalked it up to that typical teenage hunger. Alphas and Omegas who were about to go into their first ruts or heat often ate a lot so their body was ready. So, Tony just bought extras of Peter’s favourite snacks.

Tony had also noticed that Peter wasn’t wearing his glasses anymore. That would have struck Tony as odd because Peter had cruddy vision, but he knew that his optometrist had suggested contacts and Peter could have had FRIDAY order him some to try them out. So, Tony said nothing.

Tony also noticed that Peter was cold more often than not. Not uncommon for Omegas about to have their first heats. However, Peter was dressing in more layers and he felt sleepy when out in the snow. So, as the weather got colder, Tony made sure that the temperature in there was warmer and that Peter bundled up before going outside.

So, the things Tony noticed changing in Peter weren’t really that out of the ordinary for a young Omega about to have their first heat. But if that was the case, why was Peter sneaking around? 

The night Tony found Peter sneaking back into his room wearing a blue and red onesie and one swimming goggles tinted black, Tony had been pacing back and forth down the hallway leading to Peter’s room trying to figure out a way to ask Peter what was going on.

You see, Tony knew that Peter was entering that time in his life when teenagers tended to push boundaries, act out, and experiment. Tony knew that Peter was a good kid but he was also Tony’s kid. He didn’t want his pup to make the same mistakes he’d made in the past. Plus Peter had been quite cagey and secretive lately. He wanted his son to know that he could trust him.

So, eventually, Tony bucked up the courage and knocked on his son’s door before entering. What he saw wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

“Uh… What the fuck Peter?”

As Tony entered the room he was very quickly met with his son Peter climbing through the window while wearing a red and blue onesie. Peter looked like a dear caught in the headlights and Tony was so, so confused.

“This isn’t what it looks like!” panicked Peter and Tony stared back at his son.

“Well, it looks like you’re running around town in the same costume as that Spider-Man guy in YouTube and sneaking back into the tower. How the hell did you even do that!? We’re on the 42nd floor!” scrambled Tony as he tried to figure out that the hell was going on.

“Well… Uh… I… Uh…” sputtered Peter as he crawled back into his room and stood there dumbly.

“Peter, what is going on?” asked Tony. He was feeling both a strong mix of concern and anger.

“I uh…”

“Peter, I need you to tell me the truth.” Spoke Tony as he looked over at his son before guiding him to his bed and sitting him down next to him.

“You uh… you remember when I got super sick after the OsCorp trip?” Tony nodded and Peter looked down at his hands.

“Well, when we were on the trip they had these spiders there that they were experimenting on and one bit me. Nothing happened for a few hours so I thought it was fine and that my fever really just was a pre-heat. But now… not I can do all this crazy stuff like sticking to things. I’m super strong now and I don’t need my glasses to see. I… I don’t…”

“Why didn’t you say anything, Pete?” Worried Tony. He was having a hard time processing everything.

“I was scared. I could suddenly do all this stuff that I couldn’t do before and I knew I had to do something good with it. I made my own suit and my own webs. I can’t just sit by and let people get hurt when I have the ability to stop it.” 

“Peter You can’t just swing around the city fighting crime without telling me! You’re still a kid. You’re my kid! You can’t just do this!” spoke Tony. His voice rose as he continued.

“I JUST WANTED TO BE LIKE YOU!” 

And that… That broke something within Tony. He didn’t know if it was good or bad. Sure he knew on some level that Peter wanted to be like him when he grew up. But Peter didn’t know much about Tony’s past. He wanted to leave that behind him. The only thing Tony had brought up to Peter was that his Grandpa Stark was a piece of shit and that addictions run in the family so he should be careful. But this… Tony wasn’t prepared for this.

“Oh, Peter. You’re too good for that. You should just be the best Peter you can be. Don’t be like me. Be better.” Sighed Tony as he pulled his pup into his arms.

“But that’s impossible.” Mumbled Peter from his place on Tony’s chest.

“You’re already better than me Peter. You don’t need to go running around in a onesie to prove that.”

“But what if I want to?” 

“Pete…”

“No Mom, I have to do this. I have to help people. I… I can’t just stand on the sidelines anymore. For years now I’ve seen you working so hard and saving people and putting yourself out there. I want to do that. I want to protect people. I need to. I have these powers and when you can do what I can, if you don’t do anything… Momma, I have to do this.” Sighed Peter and Tony held his pup close for a little while. He just needed to hold him. Fuck! When had Peter grown so big? AT this rate he was going to be taller than Tony was. James must have been tall. 

Tony continued to hold Peter while he mulled everything over. This was a lot of information to take in and Tony knew he had to make a big decision on what to do. This wasn’t in any parenting book he’d read. What the hell were you supposed to do when your pup got superpowers? But, in the end, Peter was Tony’s pup through and through. He knew what he needed to do.

“Look, Pete, you can’t just go out like this. You can’t fight crime in pyjamas. And look, I know that no matter what I do you’re not going to stop this so at least let me help you. I need to keep you safe Pete. I’m your Mom. I’m not going to let you get hurt if there’s a chance I can stop it from happening.” 

Tony and Peter talked that night for hours just sorting things out. Things such as new protocols and curfews and a plan to balance Peter’s education, Academic Decathlon, and Spider-Man. Peter was grounded though, for hiding what had happened at OsCorp. Two weeks of no social media, Spider-Man, and some extra chores seemed fair to Tony. Peter didn’t argue. At least he still got to see Ned.

In that time Tony made Peter a whole new suit with an AI and all sorts of protocols to help keep him safe. He also helped Peter in the gym every other day to help him learn basic fighting skills to protect himself. He didn’t need Peter getting hurt.

With the whole Spider-Man thing squared away for now, Tony pulled his focus back to the Avengers. He was being called in for some meetings again for something called the Sokovia Accords. They were going to be a set of rules made by 117 nations on how the Avengers should operate in their countries. It was a way to keep the Avengers accountable and for there to be a system of checks and balances. They weren’t perfect yet and there was a ways to go, especially since Thaddeus Ross kept sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, but with work, they would be good.

Working on the accords allowed Tony to meet some interesting people. People such as King T’Chaka from Wakanda and his son, Prince T’Challa. They were really interesting and Tony quite liked them. They had great ideas and Tony couldn’t wait to learn from them. There is always room to learn from others. 

Although Tony just knew it was going to be a problem when it came time to introduce the Accords to the other Avengers. He knew for sure that Cap would throw some sort of fit. 

If only he knew how bad it would get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! My first prequel done and over. I’m pretty proud of it. I hope you guys liked it. I’ve got some new one-shots in the works as well as two new long fics. One Stony. One Winteriron. So, stay tuned and keep your eyes open for them. Maybe read some of my other works while you wait. I’ve got loads for you to choose from. I’ll be seeing y’all around. -Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> So, what are we all thinking? Good start? I think so. This is my first time writing a prequel so bear with me. I’m still finding my way. If you’re liking my fic don’t forget to check out all my others. I’ve got a load of one-shots and multi-chapter fics up for you to read while waiting for new chapters of this. I hope everyone’s doing well. I’ll see y’all soon. -Shadows


End file.
